


Make Her Understand

by SaintLily



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Biting, Dom/sub, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Hair-pulling, Hate Sex, Master/Pet, Porn With Plot, Praise Kink, Smoking, Spanking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:33:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27973763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintLily/pseuds/SaintLily
Summary: Cinder and Ruby have hated each other ever since they first met. The problem that they're now facing is that they've each started to fall in love with the other, and neither of them particularly knows what to do about that.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Cinder Fall/Ruby Rose, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Neopolitan/Penny Polendina
Comments: 141
Kudos: 173





	1. A Perfectly Good Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back on my bullshit

Cinder impressed herself by managing to keep a straight face when she saw her least favourite person in the whole wide world walking in through the door of the dingy little bar she’d been idling away in for the last couple of hours. Admirably, she managed to prevent herself from staring too, wrenching her gaze away from the door to focus on draining away the remainder of the drink she’d been idly sipping at. It was honestly just typical that the one night she decided to actually go out and relax a little, she would run into the biggest annoyance that she’d ever had the displeasure of meeting. Ruby Rose. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Ruby had been far less successful in suppressing her reaction. She’d frozen up in the doorway while staring in surprise, much to the confusion of the other three women that had walked in with her. Cinder watched with some satisfaction as one of the ladies flicked Ruby in the forehead to get her attention, and then grabbed her arm and dragged her off to an empty table. Well, at the very least she’d gotten to see Ruby embarrass herself, that was one bright spot in a night that had otherwise been ruined.

Really this was all Neo’s fault, Cinder mused. The only reason she was out here was that the little gremlin had made her swear that she wouldn’t spend the entire weekend locked up alone in their apartment. 

“C’mon Cinder.” The mute had signed. “I’m gonna be away for four days, and you know how you can get. Promise me that you’ll do something social at least once. Go have some fun, find a cute girl to spend some time with, just do something that doesn’t involve being sad and lonely.”

She signalled for another drink. While her roommate’s concern was appreciated, obviously Neo should’ve known that something like this would happen given Cinder’s track record for unmitigated disasters. Certainly she’d never be able to focus on having fun, or trying to stumble drunkenly through the motions of flirting, while the little red distraction was constantly looking over at her from across the room.

Cinder managed to sulk her way through another couple of drinks before her annoyance peaked. She dug a handful of coins out of her wallet to dump in the tip jar, and then stood up to leave. Hopefully she’d waited long enough that it wouldn’t seem too obvious she was fleeing from her old enemy. Even as she walked out she could still feel the weight of Ruby’s gaze on her back. God, didn’t that girl have anything better to do than to piss her off?

After what felt like an eternity, she was outside and free of that oppressive presence. The chill of the night bit into her as she fumbled around in her purse for a cigarette. She’d promised Neo that she would try to quit, but right now she was desperate for something that could calm her down. 

She’d never known exactly why, but from the day she first met Ruby back in university the younger girl always just had this way of getting right under her skin. They butted heads constantly, always finding some excuse to fight over the most minor things. It’d only gotten worse after her junior year, when too much alcohol at a party had caused a heated argument to end in an even more heated makeout session that still haunted her (and Neo still teased her about) to this day. 

Finally, she managed to root out a half crushed packet of cigarettes from the bottom of her purse. Flipping it open, she impatiently yanked one of the offending objects out with her teeth, before shoving the packet back into her bag and starting to search for her lighter. It was times like these, as she fumbled around with increasing frustration, that she really envied people who still had both hands. Before she could find the lighter, however, a voice she recognised all too well called out from her blind spot.

“Those are pretty bad for you, y’know.”

Cinder practically growled with frustration. She gave up on calming down, grabbing the cigarette out of her mouth and tossing it to the ground as she turned to face Ruby.

“My, my, following me out into the night like this. People are going to talk. Aren’t you worried about disappointing those girls you were with?” Her voice managed to stay remarkably level given how angry she was feeling.

Ruby waved a hand dismissively. “Weiss and Blake are just friends, and Yang’s my sister.” She took a moment to bend over, grabbing Cinder’s discarded cigarette and tossing it into a nearby bin. “I didn’t know you came here, it’s a nice place, huh?”

“Well, it’s not like there’s many other gay bars nearby.” Cinder was hoping that her dismissive tone would be enough to get Ruby to leave her alone. No such luck.

“Yeah, guess not. It is still nice though, I’ve been coming pretty regularly recently.” Ruby replied with a laugh.

Cinder bristled. Why Ruby insisted on talking to her as if they hadn’t spent years hating each other was beyond her. “What do you want, Ruby. I was having a perfectly good night before you decided to show up and ruin it, so if you can hurry it up I’d very much like to get back to not having to put up with you any more.”

“If your definition of a perfectly good night is sitting all alone at a bar looking like you’re about to have a breakdown, then that kinda makes me feel sorry for you.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” Cinder didn’t bother trying to hide her anger at this point, taking a step closer to Ruby. “I’m sorry we can’t all have perfect little lives like you, but some of us actually have shit to deal with.”

“Get over yourself.” Ruby moved closer in turn, looking up at Cinder defiantly. “You know, I actually came out here because I was worried about you, but it's good to see you’re still just as much of a bitch as always.”

“Well, maybe I’m just a bitch because I’m constantly having to deal with some annoying twerp following me around and pissing me off.”

Ruby’s jaw was set in a hard line as she continued to stare up at Cinder, her twin silver eyes meeting Cinder’s singular gold. The pair were standing quite close now, close enough that the steam from their heavy breaths was visibly mingling in the cold air between them. As Cinder watched, Ruby’s gaze slid down her face, settling on her lips for a few moments before moving back up to her eye. “So, do you wanna make out or what?”

“God, yes.”

Before Cinder’s brain could push through the haze of alcohol and remind her that this was a really bad idea, Ruby had already leaned forward and captured her lips in a searing kiss. She groaned in appreciation, greedily pushing her tongue into Ruby’s open mouth and drinking in the moans spilling out of the younger woman. This, she decided as she pushed Ruby up against a nearby wall, was exactly what she needed to let out some aggression.

When she finally broke the kiss off, Ruby was left panting for air, only for those pants to be cut off by a sharp yelp as Cinder raked her fingernails down the side of Ruby’s body. The cold night air continued to prickle away at the pair, but the heat that was blossoming within their bodies seemed to counteract it completely. Cinder moved in for another kiss, at the same time slipping her hand underneath Ruby’s loose fitting top to continue scratching deep red marks along her fair skin.

There was just something so pleasing about the way Ruby yelped and whined into the kiss with every twitch of Cinder’s fingers. It was awakening a deep, dark, hunger within her, one that rapidly overwhelmed her last few remaining scraps of common sense and replaced it with a firm need to put this annoying brat in her place. And so, Cinder broke off the kiss once more, this time pushing one of her legs firmly in between Ruby’s before she could catch her breath.

As Cinder’s thigh pressed itself up against Ruby’s crotch, the younger woman let out a deep, throaty moan, her hips jerking forward into the contact involuntarily. She flung her arms around Cinder’s back, hanging on in a desperate attempt to stay steady as the older girl began teasingly pressing up against her crotch, only to pull back almost immediately. Ruby’s moans only continued, her hips stuttering forward at each brief bit of contact.

“Aww, try not to be too loud, Ruby.” Cinder was smirking down at her, a dark hunger etched across her face. “What would all your friends think if they heard you like this?”

“Y’know.” Ruby struggled to get her words out in the midst of Cinder’s teasing. “I like you a lot better when you’re just focusing on kissing instead of trying to be an asshole.”

Without waiting for a response, Ruby reached one of her hands around to grab at Cinder’s hair and yank her down into another heated kiss. As their tongues battled against one another, Cinder finally pushed her thigh up against Ruby and left it there, letting the younger girl properly grind on her. 

Ruby’s moans were like music to Cinder’s ears. Every one rumbled straight through their kiss, sending pleasant vibrations through her body. It was almost enough to make her forget just how much she hated Ruby.

When they at last broke apart, Cinder was delighted to see that same desire she could feel coursing through her body reflected in Ruby’s deep silver eyes. “Aww,” she crooned. “It looks like someone’s enjoying herself.”

Ruby rolled her eyes at that. “Ugh, you’re annoying.” She took a few beats to catch her breath and then continued, voice barely above a whisper. “We both know that we both want this, so just stop beating around the bush already.”

Ruby was right. Cinder knew exactly what the younger girl wanted, and she knew that it was the exact same thing that she wanted. Buuuuut Cinder definitely wasn’t the sort to engage in those sorts of activities in a place like this. She leaned in close to Ruby’s ear, taking a brief moment to softly bite at it, enjoying the way that the younger girl tensed up against her as she did. “In that case,” she bit down again, harder this time, forcing a breathy groan out of Ruby, “I’m going to catch a cab back to my apartment. You’re welcome to come with me.”

The only answer Ruby gave as Cinder pulled away was a self satisfied smirk.

\---

In an impressive display of self-restraint, Cinder managed to keep her hand entirely to herself for the entirety of the ride back to her apartment. In fact, she was able to wait until they had made it into her bedroom and were entirely undressed before she pushed Ruby down onto the bed and pressed a sloppy, forceful kiss against her mouth.

Ruby moaned into Cinder, clearly eager to resume what they’d started back outside the bar. She wrapped her arms around the older girl, greedily trailing her hands across the expanse of bare skin. Eventually, she found her way down to Cinder’s butt and gave one of the cheeks a harsh squeeze. 

Almost immediately, Cinder pulled away from the kiss and let out an angry growl. She grabbed at Ruby’s offending hand and wrenched it down to the bed, pinning it in place. “No more touching unless I tell you to.” She hissed. “Keep your hands down.”

Ruby stuck her tongue out at that. “Why don’t you make me?”

On cue, Cinder leant in and bit down hard on the side of Ruby’s neck while simultaneously pressing her thigh up against the younger woman’s crotch. Ruby let out a strangled cry as the heady mix of pleasure and pain overwhelmed her senses, her hips bucking forward into the contact reflexively. Cinder held her position for what felt like forever, but eventually released Ruby’s neck, pulling back to admire the angry red mark she’d left against it. “And while you’re at it, no more sass.” Cinder licked her lips. “I’m in charge here. Understand?”

“Ugh… Fine.” Ruby’s response came out haltingly, her chest visibly heaving in anticipation for what was to come. She removed her non-pinned hand from Cinder’s body, tangling it up in the bed sheets instead.

Satisfied, Cinder released Ruby’s hand, and then moved to grasp at one of the younger girl’s breasts. Simultaneously, she brought her mouth down to bite at Ruby’s neck once again. Ruby gasped and sighed in pleasure with each new bite, only to transition into loud moans when Cinder began to roughly massage at her chest. 

Cinder moved quickly, soon sliding her hand down from Ruby’s breast to inch closer and closer to her soaking crotch. Ruby’s body tensed up more and more beneath Cinder as the distance closed. By the time her hand was hovering above Ruby’s nethers, the girl was visibly trembling. The broken whimper that Ruby let out when Cinder bypassed her crotch entirely to instead trace meaningless patterns on the inside of her thighs was one of the most beautiful sounds that the older woman had ever heard. 

“Ci- Cinder!” Ruby panted out, her hips blindly rocking up into empty space, desperately searching for something to rub against. “Don’t… Don’t tease me like this…”

Cinder only hummed back, noncommittally. It was rather intoxicating to have Ruby so completely at her mercy. The prospect of simply continuing to toy with her was seeming more and more attractive by the second, but she had an idea that she knew would bring even greater fulfillment. “Beg,” She whispered, “Tell me exactly what you need from me.”

“I… Cinder, I-I…” Ruby screwed her eyes shut, tossing her head to the side as she gasped and panted. After a few moments, she let her eyes flutter back open and met Cinder’s dark gaze once more. The look of desperation in her eyes was adorably pathetic. “Please… I need you… inside me.”

Cinder couldn’t help but croon in delight at the display. Usually she found Ruby so annoying, but like this she was just so cute, so pliant. She could feel heady desire building in her own nethers at the sight. A single finger slid smoothly into the soaking wet mess that was Ruby’s pussy, and the younger woman practically screamed. Without missing a beat, Cinder slipped a second finger inside, and then followed it up by pressing her thumb firmly against Ruby’s clit. Each addition left Ruby shuddering and squirming beneath her.

“Aww, you’re so pathetic Ruby.” Cinder murmured, her fingers beginning to thrust with a languid pace. “A pathetic little slut.”

Ruby’s only response was to mewl cutely, her hips jerkily rolling back into Cinder’s touch in time with each thrust.

“Getting this wet so easily…” The speed of Cinder’s thrusts increased, much to Ruby’s delight. “Why, I should’ve bent you over and taught you that your place in this world was beneath me years ago.”

Ruby moaned as Cinder pumped deeper and deeper inside her. She was an absolute mess, her body shaking and shuddering with each thrust, her hips bucking wantonly, her chest heaving with every gasp and moan. It’d been such a long time since she’d been fucked like this.

Cinder felt Ruby’s cunt tighten subtly around her fingers. The younger woman was so very, very close. The prospect of stopping entirely and leaving Ruby unfulfilled danced across her mind, but she quickly dismissed it. She might not like the girl, but she wasn’t a monster. Even if it would be very entertaining.

“Cum for me, Ruby.” Cinder crooned. “You’re such a slut, I can tell that you want it.”

Ruby didn’t need much encouragement. She came hard, her back arching off the bed as her hips bucked forcefully into Cinder. Cinder’s fingers continued to pump into her as she rode out the orgasm, intensifying every single wave of pleasure as they coursed through her body.

Cinder couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Ruby writhing about beneath her. She continued to idly pump her fingers into Ruby’s dripping wet cunt until the younger woman began whining and trembling from the overstimulation. Only then did she remove her hand, bringing it up to her face to examine the fluid of Ruby’s arousal that coated it.

“Here.” Cinder moved her hand to Ruby’s face, resting her sullied fingers on the panting woman’s lower lips. “Clean me.”

Ruby slowly opened her mouth wide as she registered just what it was that Cinder wanted from her. Cinder’s fingers slid inside her, and Ruby began eagerly licking and sucking at them, enjoying the taste of herself. Her eyes drifted shut as she focused entirely on the task before her.

Cinder watched with amusement as Ruby continued to debase herself. That deep heat of need was continuing to build deep within her. With a pop she withdrew her fingers from Ruby’s mouth and began softly caressing the younger girl’s cheek. 

“So obedient.” Cinder drawled. “I think I know the perfect reward for you. I’ll let you eat me out.”

Ruby’s eyes fluttered open, and Cinder noted that the haze of her post-orgasm high seemed to have largely lifted. “That’s a funny way to say, ‘oh Ruby, I’m just as horny as you are, please do me!’” She punctuated her statement by sticking her tongue out playfully. Much to Cinder’s chagrin, it seemed Ruby had regained a bit of her fight.

“I said,” Cinder flicked Ruby on the forehead, “No sassing me.”

Ruby laughed softly at that. “Fine, fine.” She sat up, stretching her arms out as she did. “I promise I’ll be polite from now on, ma’am~”

Cinder narrowed her eye suspiciously, but nonetheless lay back and spread her legs out for Ruby to take position between. Soon Cinder could feel the cool sensation of Ruby’s breath blowing against the heat of her arousal. She let out a needy groan as Ruby giggled again.

“Wow, I think you’re even wetter than I was.” The younger girl mused in a husky voice.

Cinder growled dangerously, only to be cut off by a choked gasp when Ruby finally pressed her tongue against the base of Cinder’s slit and gave it a firm lick. She let her head roll back, sighing happily as Ruby began to lap at her core like some kind of starving animal. Cinder reached down to tangle her hand in Ruby’s hair at the same time the younger woman wrapped her arms around Cinder’s thighs, the pair each holding the other tightly against them. 

Ruby soon began moaning into Cinder, the vibrations travelling through Cinder’s body and leaving the most wonderful tingling feeling all up her spine. Cinder moaned back, her hips starting to grind of their own accord against Ruby’s face.

Say what you will about Ruby, the girl certainly knew what she was doing. Her tongue danced inside Cinder, constantly managing to find those sensitive places that sent bright lights streaking across her vision. Cinder could feel the heady pressure of her release building inside her, intensifying with every twitch of Ruby’s tongue. She was so close, and she knew exactly where she needed her.

Crimson-tipped hair bunched up in Cinder’s fingers as she yanked Ruby’s head higher. When Ruby did as she was asked and began suck just right on Cinder’s clit, Cinder was sent spiralling, no longer able to focus on anything but the beautiful feeling of her imminent release.

She came hard, her grip like iron in Ruby’s hair as she rode the younger girl’s face. It was almost like she was soaring, shockwaves of pleasure rocking through her body like a hurricane. Ruby’s tongue continued to twirl against her clit, not that it could do much else with Cinder holding her firmly in place, every movement seeming to amplify and extend the shudders that wracked Cinder’s body.

Slowly, the high began to fade, replacing itself with the less pleasant heat of embarrassment when Cinder realised that she’d been moaning Ruby’s name repeatedly throughout her orgasm. She released her grip on Ruby’s hair, glancing down to find the girl grinning smugly up at her.

Without a word (Thankfully), Ruby shuffled her way up the bed and pressed a lazy kiss against Cinder’s lips. Obviously, Cinder would never want to kiss tenderly with Ruby Rose of all people, but she was feeling generous and still enjoying her afterglow, so she decided to allow it just this once. When Ruby wrapped her arms around Cinder’s waist and broke off the kiss to nuzzle up against her, Cinder decided to allow that too. 

She let her eye drift shut and slipped her arm around Ruby’s back in turn, holding the younger woman close as they enjoyed each other’s warmth. Sleep came quickly to Cinder, as she lay there in the arms of the woman she hated. Probably the best sleep she’d had in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that you've enjoyed! I've already got a few ideas on how to continue this, but we'll have to see how long it takes me to get round to it skdfs
> 
> Comments are always appreciated!


	2. Worst Mistakes Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If they're going to make this a regular thing, Cinder needs to set some ground rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was originally gonna wait a while longer before updating this, but then v8e6 happened and I got really excited and ended up writing a big chunk sdjkfs

Sunlight streamed in through Cinder’s window, slowly dragging her out of the comforting embrace of sleep. She groaned audibly as her eye fluttered open, glancing down briefly to see that yep, she really had slept with Ruby last night. This was certainly going to rate highly on her list of worst mistakes ever, right up there with that time Neo dared her to burn down her old house.

Her body was a litany of aches and pains, from her head down to her legs. That last one, at least, had a slightly pleasant tinge to it, reminding her of some of the more… tolerable parts of last night. Of Ruby’s head bobbing eagerly between her legs, of-

Okay, just gonna cut off that line of thought right now. It was still pretty hard for her to believe that had all actually happened, even if she did have living proof of it cuddled up against her. Idly, she reached up and ran her hand through Ruby’s choppy hair. As annoying as the little menace was, she actually felt kinda nice like this. Very soft and very warm. The only really unpleasant part of their embrace was that strange wet feeling on Cinder’s chest, around where Ruby’s head lay. She scratched at the wet patch, then took a second to examine her fingers. It was weird, kinda like water but frothy? Almost like…

“Oh my god.” Cinder shoved Ruby bodily off of her and sprang out of bed. “Have you been drooling on me all night!?”

Ruby’s only response was to groan and roll away from Cinder, before pulling the covers up over her head.

Cinder growled dangerously, but focused herself on retrieving a clean change of clothes and making her way to the apartment’s bathroom as quickly as possible. Soon, she was safely inside the shower, letting the warm water soothe her aches and pains as she frantically scrubbed all of Ruby’s bacteria riddled saliva off of her body.

Eventually, when she felt sufficiently clean, she took a minute to just stand under the water, letting it wash over her as she ordered her thoughts. Obviously, this could never happen ever again, and obviously no-one could ever be allowed to know about it. That made her first objective to get Ruby out of her apartment as fast as possible.

When she returned to the bedroom, Cinder was disappointed (though not surprised) to find that Ruby was still peacefully sleeping away. It took only a few moments to locate a clean set of clothes that she could lend to the younger woman. From there, her next challenge would be to get her to actually wake up.

Cinder didn’t waste any time, grabbing onto the bed sheets currently draped over Ruby’s sleeping form and yanking them back. She then followed up by grabbing onto Ruby’s shoulder and beginning to shake her forcefully. “Ruby. Ruby. Ruby.”

“Urgh…” Cinder’s increasing irritation paid off when Ruby groaned and began trying to worm out of her grip. “It’s early…”

“It’s late enough.” Cinder slapped the clothes she’d picked out down onto Ruby’s face as the younger woman continued to complain. “You can borrow these clothes. The bathroom is just to the left when you walk out of the bedroom. Get clean, get dressed, and then get out of here.”

Ruby pulled the clothes off of her face and gave Cinder her best puppy-dog eyes. “I’m pretty hungry…”

Cinder stared her down for a time, but couldn’t resist her undeniable charm. “... If it’ll make you get up faster, I’ll make something for breakfast while you’re showering.”

“Hurray!” Ruby bounced to her feet with a surprising degree of energy for someone who’d only just been asleep, while Cinder did a very good job of not staring at her nude body and remembering the night before.

From there on it was a simple matter of cooking up a few eggs, which Ruby proceeded to devour with gusto as soon as she was out of the shower, and then herding the younger woman out the door. She was actually surprisingly compliant with the whole process. Maybe she wanted this all to be over with as fast as possible too. Or maybe not.

“So,” Ruby turned back right after crossing the threshold of the apartment, a sly smirk on her face, “That was pretty fun. Wanna try it again sometime?”

“No.” Cinder replied flatly, before closing the door in Ruby’s face.

She waited a few moments, until she heard the sound of retreating footsteps through the door, and then let out a sigh of relief. At least that was one headache all taken care of. Now onto her next step in pretending this never happened: washing her bedsheets.

\---

A little over a full day had gone by before Cinder’s phone let out the ominous tone of a text alert. Grumbling, she set down the book she’d been reading and picked it up, fully expecting Neo to be bothering her about something inane as per usual. Instead, she was greeted by a series of messages from an unknown number.

_heya!_  
_ive got those clothes you lent me all washed and ready to return_  
_want me to swing by sometime owo_

She stared at her phone blankly. The number wasn’t one she recognised, but it was all too obvious who the person on the other side of the conversation was.

_How did you get my number, Ruby?_

She turned back to her book, only for the phone to start buzzing again nearly immediately.

_u gave it to me_  
_the other night_

Cinder narrowed her eye. She’d done some pretty stupid stuff that night, but she was pretty sure even drunk-making-out-with-Ruby-is-a-good-idea Cinder wasn’t dumb enough to do that.

_I don’t recall that._

Once again, the reply was almost instant.

_sdfs well actually i asked neo_  
_but she said youd be mad at her so dont tell_  
_oops_

Well, that was just typical. Cinder made a mental note to shout at Neo about this tomorrow, when the little gremlin would be back from her trip.

_She was right._  
_I should be home all day, you can drop the clothes off whenever._

_im working for most of the day_  
_n then im meeting some people for dinner_  
_can i drop them back afterward_  
_maybe 9 :?_

Cinder paused to think. This seemed like it could go badly. Then again, she wasn’t some hormonal teen, she could control herself perfectly well. Plus, this would give her the perfect opportunity to make sure they were both on the same page regarding the mistake.

_That’s fine._

_:D_

\---

“Hi!” Ruby called out cheerfully as Cinder opened the door and let her into the apartment.

Cinder didn’t say a word as Ruby entered, plopped herself down into the first seat she came across, and then began rooting around in her bag. After a few moments, she produced a snaplock filled with the clothes Cinder had lent her and handed it over to the other woman.

“Thanks.” Cinder deposited the bag on the kitchen bench. “You can leave now.”

“Wow, really?” Ruby seemed incredulous.

“Yes, really.” Cinder took a deep breath, then summoned up every bit of bad bitch energy she could muster. “Clearly you’ve misunderstood things in some way, so let me make it all plain enough that even an idiot like you can’t get confused. The other night wasn’t anything, and it’s never going to be anything. If I had it my way, I never would’ve had the misfortune of stumbling across you. Thanks for returning my clothes, you could’ve kept them and I wouldn’t have cared. You can leave now.”

Ruby was standing now, her arms crossed and her jaw set. “It kinda seemed like something when you were moaning my name.”

Cinder felt a slight blush colour her cheeks at the memory. “That… I got a little caught up in the moment. It was all just a big mistake. In case you haven’t noticed, I hate you.”

“Well, I hate you too. That didn’t stop us though, did it?” She took a step toward Cinder, then continued, voice huskier. “I think you actually really liked getting to toy with someone you hated like that, didn’t you Cinder?” Another step. “Getting to tease me, getting to hear me beg…”

"I… It…" Ruby was standing close now. Close enough to touch. Cinder’s gaze fell down to Ruby’s neck, where a bite mark she’d left the other night was just barely peeking out past the younger woman’s collar. Her breathing was getting heavier and heavier, her mind flashing back to creating that mark, to the noises Ruby had made, to the scenes Ruby had just described, and all of a sudden she didn’t particularly care about whether something was a good idea or not.

She grabbed at Ruby’s shirt, pulled her in, and kissed her. Ruby’s surprise lasted only for an instant before she was leaning into Cinder, groaning in appreciation as the older woman bit at her lower lip. Soon they were properly making out, tongues sliding against each other passionately as Cinder’s hand tangled itself up in the back of Ruby’s hair.

Ruby took the opportunity to slip her own hands under Cinder’s top and start exploring her body. She hummed excitedly as she felt the soft flesh of Cinder’s stomach shifting against her, the vibrations travelling through the both of their bodies in a way that was undeniably exciting.

When they finally broke apart, they took a moment to stand and simply stare at one another, gasping for air the whole while. Cinder was the first to speak. “Fine. You win.” Then, without saying another word, she extricated herself from Ruby and stalked off toward her bedroom.

Their clothes hit the floor in rapid succession, and then she was on Ruby again, their now nude bodies tangling against each other with a desperate fervor. Ruby’s hands were all over Cinder, trailing up and down her back until they eventually settled on her butt, groping and scratching at it roughly. Cinder, meanwhile, focused her attention on Ruby’s neck. She bit, kissed, and sucked at the tender flesh, thoroughly enjoying the process of adding to the litany of marks she’d already left there.

Soon, Cinder managed to drag Ruby down onto the bed. The pair continued to bite and scratch at one another, until eventually Cinder gained control, pinning one of Ruby’s wrists to the bed and straddling her waist. Obediently, Ruby lowered her other hand to the bed and looked up at Cinder, her pupils blown wide with hunger. Cinder, however, was keen to make her wait for at least a little while longer.

“If we’re going to make this a regular thing,” she began, her hand trailing across Ruby’s body as she spoke, “We’re going to need to set some ground rules.” She waited until Ruby gave a stiff nod of acknowledgement before continuing. “Firstly, we’re keeping this a secret. Don’t tell anyone. If I find out you’ve been bragging about this to any of your dumbass friends, we’re done.”

“Aww, are you embarrassed of me?” Ruby shot back, her playful tone not quite managing to mask the desire that was clearly filling her.

Cinder narrowed her eye in annoyance. “Yes. Don’t get this mixed up, the only thing you are to me is convenient. Once I move on from this I don’t want anyone to know I ever let my standards drop down to your level.”

Ruby squirmed slightly beneath Cinder. “Sure, sure. Now can we start already?”

“Not quite,” Cinder dug her fingernails into the impatient woman’s skin, “Second rule is that I’m in charge.” To punctuate her point she dug her nails in even harder, leaving behind angry red marks. “Any questions?”

Ruby yelped at the sudden bursts of pain, and found herself panting needily as soon as they disappeared. “Yeah, just one. Can I finger you?”

Cinder was momentarily taken aback, but then she let out a deep, husky, laugh. “My, my, what a pleasant surprise. I would’ve thought you’d be desperate for me to get you off first, but I suppose I can allow it.”

With that, she rose, moving off of Ruby to recline back on the bed before spreading her legs open invitingly. Ruby shuffled up the bed after her, a hungry look in her eyes as she captured Cinder’s lips in a heated kiss. Her tongue quickly pushed into Cinder’s mouth, earning her a groan of pleasure from the older woman.

Ruby’s hand, meanwhile, slid its way down Cinder’s body, eventually reaching her clit and beginning to rub lazy circles around it. Cinder’s groans quickly shifted into full on moans which Ruby drank in eagerly. She soon began moaning in return as Cinder’s nails began to scratch up and down her back, the pain mixing in beautifully with the heat of her building arousal. Cinder let her hand drift up to grasp at Ruby’s hair and then yanked hard, forcing the younger woman to break off the kiss as she whined in disappointment.

“My,” She began, her eye dark with desire as she stared down at Ruby, who continued to rub lazily at her clit, “You’re so eager to please, aren’t you, slut?”

Ruby licked her lips as she met Cinder’s gaze. “You’re really hot like this.”

Cinder just smirked, and then used her grip on Ruby’s hair to guide the younger woman’s head down to her breasts. “Give these some attention.”

Ruby didn’t waste time, quickly dipping her head down to kiss and suck at the expanse of sensitive skin before her. Cinder’s nipples were wonderfully erect, and Ruby couldn’t resist taking one into her mouth and sucking hard.

Cinder let her head roll back as she let out a long, low moan. Her grip on Ruby’s hair loosened, and she began to stroke at it encouragingly as Ruby continued her ministrations. The simultaneous attention on her breasts and her clit was creating a wonderful symphony of pleasure, stoking the heat of her arousal higher and higher.

Sensing that the time was ripe, Ruby shifted her hand, continuing to rub at Cinder’s clit with her thumb while her fingers drifted along the length of her slit. She released Cinder’s nipple with an audible pop, and looked up at the older woman.

“You’re so wet…” Ruby’s voice was breathless with her own arousal, even as she marveled at Cinder’s.

“Then take care of it.” Cinder replied huskily. “That’s what I have you here for, isn’t it?”

Ruby cheeks darkened. “Yes ma’am.”

With that, she resumed her ministrations on Cinder’s breasts, flicking her tongue against the erect nubs of her nipples. Simultaneously, she pushed two of her fingers straight into Cinder’s dripping pussy and began thrusting fervently.

Cinder’s body tensed, and then shuddered violently at the assault. Her hips began to rock into Ruby’s touch, with every thrust causing that undeniable pressure within her to intensify further and further. Every gasp and moan that leaked out of her seemed to do nothing but encourage Ruby further, her thrusting growing in intensity at every escaped sound.

“Ah! Ri-Right there!” Cinder just barely managed to screech out when Ruby’s fingers curled inside her, brushing against a particularly sensitive patch of skin that sent starbursts tumbling through Cinder’s head. Ruby hit it again and again, filling Cinder’s mind with so much pleasure that it was a miracle she was still managing to hold on.

It all came to a head when Ruby inserted a third finger into Cinder. She couldn’t hold her climax back after that, her back arching clear off the bed as wave after wave of pleasure began to overtake her. She could feel herself clenching tight around Ruby’s fingers, feel her juices flowing past them. It was heavenly.

When Ruby shifted up and kissed her firmly, she accepted it with a hungry intensity, kissing back even as the shudders of pleasure continued to wrack her body. They didn’t break apart until the orgasm had passed in its entirety.

Ruby slowly pulled her fingers out of Cinder, bringing them up to her mouth and beginning to suck them clean, moaning softly as she did. Cinder simply looked down at Ruby hungrily, gently stroking her head in encouragement all the while.

When Ruby was done cleaning herself, she looked up at Cinder expectantly. “My turn?”

Cinder laughed softly at that. “I suppose so.” And then, after a moment of thought. “Get down on all fours for me.”

Ruby complied quickly, moving to the head of the bed and dropping down onto her hands and knees as Cinder took position behind her. Her bare pussy was completely exposed to Cinder like this, a thought that sent an involuntary shudder through her body. She’d felt herself begin to grow wet when the pair had first begun kissing, and at this point she was completely soaked with arousal.

Cinder, meanwhile, was enjoying simply staring down at Ruby’s form. Having the younger woman so completely at her mercy was positively electrifying. As she watched, the fluid leaking out of Ruby’s pussy began to run down the inside of her thighs.

“Do you have any idea how pathetic you look right now, Ruby?”

Ruby just whined back, her hips subtly thrusting backward as if telling Cinder to hurry up.

“Alright, alright,” She replied softly, “I’ll take good care of you.”

Cinder slowly pressed a finger into Ruby’s dripping snatch, delighting in the way Ruby almost immediately began rocking back into her, desperately trying to fuck herself on Cinder. Cinder’s cruel streak flared up, however, and she almost immediately withdrew that finger, this time delighting in the strained whimper that Ruby let out at the teasing.

“You really are a needy little slut, aren’t you?” Cinder mused as Ruby angled her hips higher, presenting even more of herself in a wordless plea.

This time, Cinder slammed two fingers in, hard and fast. Ruby moaned like a bitch in heat, taking Cinder’s fingers easily. Those moans only intensified when Cinder began to thrust with a rapid rhythm, Ruby’s body rocking as much as she was able into the relentless fucking.

Watching Ruby struggle and squirm like this was addicting, Cinder decided. Why had she regretted that first night together again? Having Ruby before her like this, so tame and pitiful, willing to do whatever she wanted, sent shots of dark satisfaction through her that simply couldn’t be matched.

All of a sudden Ruby’s arms gave out and her front dropped down onto the bed, her back arching beautifully as Cinder continued to pump into her without mercy. Her moans and mewls of pleasure, now partially muffled by the pillow her head was resting against, continued unabated as her body quivered uncontrollably.

Cinder could tell that Ruby was very, very close. And so, she stopped, pulling her hand out of Ruby and leaving the girl unsatisfied. The string of broken whimpers and whines that fell out of her open mouth was positively musical, and Cinder felt a deep sense of pride welling up inside her at the state she had reduced her old enemy to.

“Cinder-” Ruby gasped desperately, still trying to thrust herself back into a hand that had long since withdrawn.

“I think…” Cinder drawled with painful slowness, “I enjoyed it when you begged for me last time.”

Ruby needed no further encouragement, her climax was so painfully close and she couldn’t handle being denied any further. “Cinder p-please… please make me cum… I need it, I-I need you…”

Satisfaction bubbled up within Cinder as she shoved her fingers back into Ruby, who responded with the most pathetic mewl Cinder had ever had the pleasure of hearing. Ruby’s orgasm came hard and fast after that. Her mewls quickly transitioned to shrieks of pleasure as her body began to shake violently.

Cinder thrust her fingers in rhythm with the waves of pleasure that rocked through Ruby, enjoying the way Ruby’s velvety insides clenched around her every time. The shrieks that filled the air soon changed to moans, more specifically moans of Cinder’s name as she rode out the last dregs of her orgasm.

By the time she was done Ruby looked thoroughly ruined, her body coated in sweat and arousal, still trembling incessantly even as Cinder removed her fingers. The sight made Cinder croon happily, leaning in to press a soft kiss against Ruby’s sweat soaked forehead as the younger woman slowly regained her senses.

“Was that enough for you, slut?” Cinder couldn’t resist the taunt as the haze slowly cleared from Ruby’s eyes.

“Cinder… I…” Ruby slowly forced herself to roll over, laying on her back as she struggled to catch her breath. “Can I clean your hand again?” She eventually managed to gasp out.

“Oh? You like that, do you?” Cinder brought her hand up to Ruby’s mouth. “Then of course.”

Ruby gratefully accepted the gift, taking Cinder’s hand into her mouth and sucking away at her own juices. There was something she found addictive about the experience of tasting herself on the older woman. Cinder lay down and relaxed, allowing herself to simply enjoy the sensation of Ruby’s tongue lapping against her fingers for a time.

Eventually, when Ruby was satisfied, she withdrew her hand. “Anything else that you want?”

“Uhm… some water might be nice. And a towel, if that’s okay.”

Now that Ruby mentioned it, getting something to drink did sound nice, as did cleaning herself up. “Alright.” Cinder pushed herself out of the bed, ignoring the pain that came from leaving that comfort. “I said that I’d take good care of you, didn’t I?”

And with that, the rest of the night passed by uneventfully. Cinder got Ruby her drink, helped her clean herself up, and then wrapped her up in a loose embrace as they fell asleep together. Except spooning this time, because there’s no way Cinder was going to risk waking up with drool all over her chest again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! If you ever feel like shouting at me you can find me over on tumblr as saint-lily
> 
> Comments are always appreciated!


	3. Fancy Bumping Into You Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinder's plan to keep anyone from finding out about all this goes really well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it!

Despite being an incredibly aggravating idiot, Ruby was actually pretty nice to spoon with. Even after Cinder woke up she spent a long time just laying there, listening to the soft, rhythmic sound of Ruby’s breath. The little girl just looked so… so peaceful like this, it made even Cinder hesitant to disturb her.

All good things have to come to an end, however, and eventually the younger girl began to stir in her sleep. After another few moments Ruby let out an almighty yawn, pulling away from Cinder slightly and then rolling round to face her.

“Mornin’.” She murmured.

Cinder couldn’t help the small smile that came to her face. “You sleep like a log.”

“Well,” Ruby yawned again, “Last night was a bit of a workout.”

“I suppose so.” Cinder pushed herself into a sitting position, taking a moment to stretch her legs and arm out before exiting the bed. “I’m going to have a shower, you can lay here for a little longer.”

The shower was, as always, a cleansing experience. A chance to relax her still aching muscles and just think for a little. Like, what was she even doing? What was this thing that she’d stumbled into, and with Ruby of all people? Some kind of weird friends with benefits relationship, except without even the friends part. Was enemies with benefits a thing?

She sighed and began to rub some shampoo into her scalp. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. She could still break this off anytime she wanted, and although she’d never admit it out loud the sex had been pretty good so far. And… it’d honestly been a while since she’d slept with someone else. She could just let this play out, until she’d worked off that pent up desire, and then move on afterwards. Simple.

When she left the bathroom, she was greeted by the sight of a still very nude Ruby leaning over the kitchen counter, blearily tapping away at her phone which buzzed intermittently with new messages.

“Everything alright?” Cinder asked while doing a great job of not staring at Ruby’s body.

“Oh,” Ruby looked up at her and smiled sleepily, “I forgot to tell my roommate I wouldn’t be going back to the apartment last night. She’s just getting a little mad at me.”

“She sounds annoying. The shower’s free now,” Cinder pointed over to the snaplock bag, still sitting on the bench from the night before, “You can borrow those clothes again if you want. I’ll get us some breakfast.”

Ruby perked up at the mention of food. “Sounds good.”

While Ruby took her turn to get clean, Cinder figured out what they could eat. The fridge was honestly looking pretty bare. No more eggs, but there were a couple of rashers of bacon that should do nicely. She’d need to remember to go out and get some groceries later. Speaking of remembering, Cinder couldn’t help but feel like there was something about today that she was forgetting.

It was at that moment that she heard the sound of the front door opening. She froze. Oh. Right. Today was the day Neo was getting back. And Ruby was still here. This was bad. Without even having the decency to give Cinder enough time to come up with an elaborate plot to smuggle Ruby out of the apartment without her roommate knowing, Neo waltzed in.

“I’m back!” She enthusiastically signed. “Did you miss me?”

Cinder, despite being in full-on panic mode, managed to stammer out a reply. “Uhm… Y-Yeah.” Her mind was racing, rapidly flashing back through all the times Neo had teased her over that one time she and Ruby had made out at a party. If the gremlin found out about last night, Cinder would literally never hear the end of it.

“And did you remember your promise to get out of the apartment at some point?” Neo continued, her gaze briefly shifting over to the pan of frying bacon that Cinder was standing in front of. “Oooh it’s pretty late for breakfast, did you have a big night?”

“You could say that.” Cinder replied slowly. The more she thought about it, the more she was confronted by the fact that there was really no good way out of this.

As if to fully drive the hopelessness of the situation home, Ruby chose this moment to enter the scene. “Oh, hi Neo,” She called out as she exited the bathroom, “I didn’t realise you were here.”

Neo stared at her in surprise for a few moments, blinking slowly. Then, she turned and gave Cinder the biggest, most shit eating grin ever. Cinder, meanwhile, just stood there screaming internally. So much for the whole ‘we’re keeping this a secret’ thing.

\---

A little over a week (and two more… encounters between Cinder and Ruby) had gone by since then. In retrospect, Cinder figures that she’d never really have been able to hide the fact that Ruby and her were fucking from Neo for any significant length of time. It was probably for the best that it’d gotten out sooner rather than later. Thankfully, Neo had been very understanding, requiring only a small amount of blackmail to agree not to tell anyone else. That didn’t stop her from teasing Cinder about it at every opportunity, though. Case in point:

“Aww, look! Your girlfriend came to watch us play, I didn’t realise you’d invited her.”

Cinder stared at her in blank confusion. Girlfriend? The two of them, along with their fellow bandmates Emerald and Mercury, were standing on a makeshift stage in the corner of a shitty bar that Cinder had already forgotten the name of, getting ready to play a set. It wasn’t exactly a high-profile gig, but then their band was also pretty shitty. Cinder swept her gaze over the crowd of largely disinterested patrons. Who the hell was Neo talking about? All of a sudden, she caught sight of a pair of silver eyes beaming up at her from a booth on the opposite side of the room.

A mix of emotions, largely anger, ran through Cinder’s mind as she rounded on Neo. “Okay firstly, not my girlfriend,” She hissed, “Second, you had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

Neo’s only response was to give her the most innocent ‘who, me?’ face possible. Before Cinder could keep getting angry at her, however, Emerald’s voice called out from beside them. “Hey, are you two ready? We should be starting now.”

Cinder growled, but nonetheless turned and picked up her mic in a white-knuckled grip. At least they were playing punk music, and anger was the appropriate emotion to be channeling into her singing.

\---

“What are you doing here!?”

As soon as they had finished their set and packed up their gear, Cinder had stalked away from her bandmates. She quickly located the booth where Ruby was still seated and slammed her hand down on the table with as much force as she could muster.

“Oh, hey there Cinder.” Ruby shone a cheeky smile up at her. “Fancy bumping into you here.”

Cinder bristled. “Don’t play dumb with me. I told you that we were keeping this a secret. What part of that made you think it was okay to come to one of my shows? And how did you even know this was happening?”

Ruby’s expression morphed to one of faux shock. “My, Cinder. I didn’t realise you’d be so upset, especially considering that no-one would’ve known I was here to watch you if you hadn’t come over and made a scene.” She paused for a beat. “Also, Neo told me.”

Well that was as expected. Cinder shot a murderous glance back at the table Neo, Emerald, and Mercury were seated at, only to realise that the latter two were looking over at her quizzically, trying to figure out what she was doing. She glared back down at Ruby and growled in annoyance. The girl wasn’t exactly wrong, no-one would’ve thought anything weird was going on if she’d just stayed away.

“Look,” Ruby had that cheeky smile again, clearly deriving some enjoyment from watching Cinder suffer, “If it really bothers you, I can leave now. Or…” She drags the word out, leaning in closer and dropping her voice low as she continues. “We can hang out for a little, till the mood’s right, then find somewhere we can work out some frustration together.”

“Hmph.” Obviously Cinder wanted Ruby gone. Like that was even a question. It’d be clear to anyone. But… dealing with all this stress did sound pretty good. She sat down heavily in the booth across from Ruby. “If you’re really that intent on ruining the rest of my night, the least you can do is get me a drink.”

Ruby chuckled. “Yes ma’am~.” She stood, fishing a wallet out of the pocket of her jeans as she did. “Anything in particular you want?”

Cinder just waved her hand dismissively. “Whatever you’re having.”

With a smile, Ruby walked away, pushing her way through the crowd to the bar. Cinder sighed and took the opportunity to rub at her temple. Why did Ruby always have to make things so difficult? And why was she letting her do it?

After a couple of minutes, the problem child in question returned from the bar, setting a glass down in front of Cinder and then taking a seat on the same side of the booth as her, much to her chagrin. With a roll of her eye, she took a sip of the drink, some vodka and redbull monstrosity that she nonetheless proceeded to down rapidly.

“So,” Ruby began, watching in amusement as Cinder set her already empty glass back down on the table, “I never realised you could sing.”

Cinder scoffed. “Ruby, it’s a punk band. I can’t sing.”

That earned a laugh. “Well, whatever you want to call it, it was good.” Her voice turned husky. “It probably helped that you looked so hot up there.” She smiled playfully up at Cinder, reaching out to run her fingers along the floral patterns of the older woman’s stockings. “These show off your legs so well.”

Hm, Ruby liked that, did she? Cinder made sure to remember that for the future. “Flattery will get you nowhere.” She deadpanned back.

“You never know.” She pulled back slightly, taking a sip out of her drink. “How long have you all been playing together?”

Cinder sat back, letting some tension drain out of her shoulders as the alcohol began to take the edge off. “Me and Neo had been doing some stuff together since back in primary school. I think Emerald and Mercury joined in around when I graduated high school. It’s been kinda on and off since then.”

“Oh, wow.” Ruby set an elbow on the table, resting her head in her hand as she looked at Cinder. “I never realised you and Neo knew each other for so long. You must be pretty close, huh?”

“I guess. She’s like the horrible bastard sister I could never get rid of.” Cinder answered with a roll of the eye. After a few moments her gaze shifted down to the empty glass in her hand and she continued, voice markedly softer. “... She helped me when I was in a… bad situation. With my family. And then I was able to help her back when she was going through some tough times of her own. I guess we’ve just kinda clung to each other since then.”

She wasn’t really sure why she was telling Ruby this. Even without any real detail it still made her feel remarkably vulnerable in front of her enemy. After a few moments with no response, she glanced back toward the younger woman, only to be greeted with a soft smile. “Hey,” She reached out and flicked at Ruby’s forehead, “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Ruby laughed. “It’s just… kinda nice to see this side of you. When we first met I always thought you were just this untouchable huge bitch with a heart of stone. I like getting to see that you have people you really care about too.”

Cinder huffed. “Yeah, well… don’t get used to it. And don’t let her know either, it’ll go to her head.”

“Of course. Feel like another drink?”

“Yeah, sure.” Cinder reached down into her purse. “I can pay for this round.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ruby was already standing up. “I’m the one ruining your night, remember?” She finished with a smile, before disappearing into the crowd again.

The night seemed to pass quickly, filled with surprisingly pleasant conversation. Alcohol helped to let Cinder relax a little, and the pair soon found themselves swapping stories about what they’d been doing in the couple of months since they’d finished their degrees, and what they were planning on doing in the future. Cinder was set on starting her masters, and funnily enough Ruby had been thinking of the same, though she wasn’t quite sure if she was up to the task.

“Well, that’s stupid,” Cinder retorted, “Of course you are.”

Ruby looked up at her in surprise. “Do you really think so?”

“Sure,” Cinder drained away a little more of her drink, “We’ve been in plenty of courses together over the last few years. I might not have liked you, but unlike pretty much all the other idiots I had to work with, you never struggled to keep up with me.”

“Wow.” Ruby seemed sheepish now. “I never realised you had such a high opinion of me.”

“Hmph. It’s not my opinion, just the truth. You’re smart and you work hard. My opinion is that you’re an irritating little menace.”

More time passed, more drinks downed. Cinder was starting to feel that familiar heat of need growing inside her, and she could tell that Ruby was feeling the same. It was obvious in the hungry look in her eyes as they slid over Cinder’s body, in the deep flush of her cheeks, in the way she was keeping her thighs pressed tight together. Cinder was sure she was giving off just as many signs, just as obviously.

When Ruby leaned in and started kissing her, she accepted it eagerly. The burn of shitty vodka and tang of shitty energy drink was still thick in both of their mouths as they pressed against each other. Without even thinking, Cinder wrapped her arm around Ruby’s waist, pulling her closer in the process. Ruby responded in kind, pressing herself into Cinder as much as she was able.

“My apartment is really close to here,” Ruby murmured as soon as they broke apart, “Might be a little more comfortable there.”

Cinder had to admit, the dirty little booth had been kinda growing on her. But of course, Ruby was right. For what was coming, this place really wouldn’t be appropriate. “Lead the way.”

\---

Cinder had never been inside Ruby’s room before. Under different circumstances she might have been interested in looking around a little, but as of right now she had something much more enticing to focus on.

Ruby’s nude body, sprawled out on the bed below her, was as perfect as ever. Cinder licked her lips as she straddled the younger woman, enjoying the cute way she shuddered and squirmed in anticipation.

“You know,” Cinder trailed her hand across Ruby’s chest, making sure to just barely graze against the erect nubs of her nipples, “I’m still mad at you for coming to my show without telling me.”

“Maybe you should teach me a lesson, then.” Ruby replied breathlessly.

“Oh? And how do you think I should do that?”

Her answer came without a second thought. “You could spank me.”

Cinder paused for a moment in surprise. If she were honest, that was something she’d thought about doing a couple of times now, but she’d never been sure if it was something that Ruby was comfortable with and asking always felt a little too awkward. “Are… Are you sure? If you don’t want to, we can-”

Ruby giggled at her. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t want to, Cinder.”

“Well… I suppose that could work then.” She pushed herself up, off of Ruby, and took a seat at the edge of the bed, patting her thighs. “Hurry up.”

Ruby didn’t need further prompting, rushing to lay across Cinder’s lap, her butt prominently exposed and wiggling with excitement. Cinder took a handful of the soft flesh, kneading at it experimentally. It really wasn’t fair that Ruby of all people got to have such a nice ass. She groped it gently, occasionally swapping between the cheeks, listening to the soft sounds that Ruby would let out.

“Are you ready?” She asked eventually.

“Mhm.” Came Ruby’s response.

Cinder bit down on her lip. The mutual excitement was positively electric. “You’ve been a very bad girl, haven’t you Ruby?”

“Yeah…” Ruby’s response was quiet, barely above a whisper.

Cinder took a deep preparatory breath, then slowly wound her hand up before swinging it back down remorselessly. Ruby let out a cute squeak when her hand connected, mixing in wonderfully with the sound of the slap itself. Cinder took a moment to gently rub at the pink mark she’d left behind on Ruby’s pale skin, admiring it. “What was that?”

“Y-Yes ma’am!”

Cinder spanked her again, harder. “Tell me what you’ve been.” She ordered, staring down hungrily at Ruby’s trembling form. She already knew that she loved making Ruby submit to her, but this felt like a whole other level compared to what they’d done before.

“I’ve been a-a bad girl.”

Another sharp crack carried throughout the apartment, accompanied by Ruby’s pained yelping.

“I’ve been a very bad girl!”

“That’s right.” Cinder gave the girl some respite, dragging her hand up along her back, enjoying the way Ruby shivered at her touch. “And such a naughty girl too. I can feel how wet you’re getting from this. Can feel it dripping down onto my thigh.” Cinder drew her hand back again. “I think you should apologise for getting me all dirty, don’t you?”

Ruby bit down on her lip. The growing sense of anticipation felt so good. She could practically sense Cinder’s hand hovering in the air behind her, just waiting to swing back down. The thought of it alone made her breath catch in her throat, and the heat between her legs intensify. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Cinder swang down again without hesitation, and Ruby cried out as the heady mix of pain and pleasure made her mind all fuzzy. “And what,” Cinder asked, almost immediately pulling her hand back and spanking again, “Are you sorry for?”

“I-I’m... sorry for being a naughty girl wh-who gets off on being punished a-and makes you all dirty! I-I’m sorry for being such a slut!” At first it was difficult for Ruby to talk at all, but once she began the words just kept coming out like a babbling stream. She was only cut off when Cinder’s hand slammed down on her butt again, in one final stinging impact.

“That’s enough. Get up, and let me see your face.”

Ruby, with a little assistance, quickly pushed herself up off of Cinder and seated herself next to her. She stared at Cinder with half-lidded eyes, her thighs clamped tightly together, desperation evident on every inch of her body.

“Aww, are those tears?” Cinder crooned, gently reaching out to caress Ruby’s cheek. “You poor thing, you really need it don’t you?”

“Please…” Ruby whimpered, leaning into Cinder’s touch.

“Don’t worry, slut.” Cinder leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss against Ruby’s lips. “Lay back for me, and I’ll give you exactly what you need.”

Ruby’s breath caught in her throat as excitement overtook her. She quickly moved into position at the head of the bed and lay back, spreading her legs wide for Cinder.

“Always so eager.” Cinder moved with an exaggerated slowness, slotting herself in between Ruby’s legs. She took a deep breath, enjoying the thick scent of Ruby’s arousal. “Are you ready?”

Ruby’s only answer was to whine and start squirming about impatiently. Cinder couldn’t help but smile at that. So cute. So pitiful.

The whining was soon cut off when Cinder pressed her tongue against the base of Ruby’s soaked slit and oh so slowly licked her way up. When she reached the top, she wrapped her lips around the swollen button that was Ruby’s clit and began gently sucking at it.

The room was soon filled with the sound of soft gasping and moaning as Ruby lost herself in the pleasure. The spanking had already gotten her so worked up, and now Cinder was giving her such wonderful attention. She could already tell that she wasn’t going to last long like this.

Cinder was intent on not letting up. She continued to focus on Ruby’s clit, alternating between sucking at it and swirling circles around it with her tongue. Meanwhile, she brought her hand up and slid two fingers cleanly into Ruby’s pussy, beginning to thrust in rhythm with her sucks on the clit.

Ruby’s hips stuttered forward as Cinder drew a long, low moan out of her. The pleasure that Cinder was bestowing on her now formed a beautiful partnership with the pain emanating from her still stinging butt. The constant reminder of what they’d been doing just before made the heat and pressure building inside her rocket to greater and greater heights.

“Ruby,” Cinder briefly released Ruby’s clit, looking up at the younger girl with an eye blown wide with desire, “Tell me what you are.”

“I-” Ruby’s first attempt at speech was almost immediately cut off when Cinder returned her mouth to Ruby’s clit. “I-I-I’m… I’m a slut- ah!” Cinder increased the pace of her thrusting and the intensity of her sucking, sending Ruby’s hips rolling wildly. “I-I’m a dirty slut… I’m your slut!” With every word that spilled out of Ruby’s mouth, the intensity of Cinder’s ministrations increased, bringing her closer and closer to the edge. “I-I’m your toy! Y-Your pet!”

With that, Ruby reached her breaking point. Her babbling turned unintelligible as her body spasmed wildly, hips bucking into Cinder’s face with force. Cinder almost seemed not to notice, simply continuing to finger and eat Ruby out through the orgasm. Ruby clenched tightly around her, the juices of her arousal flooding out and coating Cinder’s hand and mouth completely.

After what seemed like an eternity Ruby’s back arched clean off the bed. She gave out one final, adorable moan and then collapsed back down, the spasms ending. Soon, she began to shake and tremble as her body struggled to deal with the sheer level of stimulation that she’d experienced.

Cinder, a satisfied smirk plastered on her face, extricated herself from Ruby’s body. She took a moment to use a towel she’d had the foresight to grab before they started to quickly clean her hand and chin. Watching the way Ruby came so completely undone for her felt simply incredible, and she made sure to use this opportunity to properly luxuriate in that feeling.

She lay back down beside Ruby and wrapped an arm around her in a loose embrace. The younger woman was still very much out of it, her head slowly lolling from side to side accompanied by soft whining. Cinder found herself reaching up to gently stroke her hair, waiting patiently for her return to the land of the living.

Something Ruby had said just before was bouncing about relentlessly in Cinder’s head. It was just dirty talk, she knew. Just following the roles they’d settled on. But still, it played on her mind. Made her feel strange.

Soon the light came back on in Ruby’s eyes, a happy sigh escaping from her mouth as she enjoyed Cinder’s petting. “That was really good.” Ruby spoke eventually, her voice scratchy from all that moaning and yelling.

“Hmm...” Cinder ran her hand down through Ruby’s hair, reaching down to her neck and beginning to trace idle patterns against the skin there. Might as well just ask about it. “My pet, huh? I don’t recall ever agreeing to that.”

“Oh, uh, I just-”

“Do you…” Cinder cut Ruby off almost immediately. She was feeling uncharacteristically nervous. Her heart was heavy in her chest, and a lump seemed to have formed in her throat. Why was this so hard? It was just more dirty talk, the kind that usually seemed to flow out of her with ease. “Do you want to be my pet, Ruby?”

Ruby’s breath hitched at the question. This was definitely something she’d thought about, and as a few of her more lurid fantasies flashed through her mind she felt a dark blush bloom on her cheeks. “I-I um… Maybe…”

Hesitantly, Cinder continued speaking. “You’re so cute... so obedient… I think you’d make a good pet,” she trailed her hand down lower, tracing the line of Ruby’s collarbone, “Would you be a good pet for me, Ruby?”

Ruby’s eyes fluttered shut as Cinder’s hand ran lower and lower, eventually settling to draw soft patterns on her stomach. Her breathing was growing heavy, and she could feel a familiar heat starting to grow inside her again already, stoked by Cinder’s words. “I would.” She gasped out, barely above a whisper.

Cinder pressed herself in closer, moving so that her lips were just barely grazing against Ruby’s ear. “Oh, you’d be so good for me… and good pets get rewarded, don’t they? Do you want me to reward you, Ruby?”

Ruby practically seemed to melt into Cinder, her breath catching every time the older woman’s fingers dipped tantalizingly low. “I do.”

Cinder’s heart was pounding. The prospect of Ruby being hers, the way the younger woman seemed so ready to submit to her so completely. It was making a feeling well inside her that she couldn’t quite identify. Similar to the satisfaction from earlier, but somehow more. Whenever she reminded herself that this was just acting, just playing a role, it sent a bolt of disappointment through her that she didn't care to analyse right now.

She shut her eye, focusing entirely on the feeling of Ruby’s body pressed against her own. “Will you let me make you my pet, Ruby?”

“I will.”

That simple answer made Cinder's heart leap. “Good girl.” Her hand dipped lower, easily sliding once more into the velvety embrace of Ruby’s pussy. “You’re such a good girl.”

Ruby felt like she could melt away. Cinder’s fingers felt incredible inside her, still sensitive as she was after her first orgasm, and Cinder’s every word seemed to echo through her head, blocking out all her other thoughts. Compared to the roughness of their first round, this was so soft, so tender. She felt Cinder’s fingers curl within her and saw stars exploding behind her eyelids.

“You’re taking me so well, pet.” Cinder moved slightly, pressing soft kisses against Ruby’s jawline even as the girl shuddered and squirmed against her. “Doing such a good job for me.”

Ruby responded with a soft moan. She was barely even able to process Cinder’s praise, but she knew she liked it. Every word sent little shots of heat all throughout her body and she found her toes curling involuntarily. She was somehow so close already, but she didn’t want to finish too fast. She wanted this to last, partly for her own pleasure, but mostly because she didn’t want to disappoint Cinder. She didn’t want the older woman to think her new pet couldn’t control herself.

“It’s okay,” Cinder spoke, as if sensing Ruby’s worries, “I want you to cum, pet. I want to feel you when you do.”

Cinder’s words were the last straw, and Ruby found herself rapidly unraveling. It was much more understated than her first climax of the night, though that was probably understandable. She curled herself into Cinder, mewling and moaning softly even as Cinder continued to whisper sweet nothings to her.

Ruby's hips rolled jerkily into Cinder's hand, fingers still curled deep inside her, brushing against all her most sensitive spots even as her insides clamped down around them. If Cinder had wanted to feel her, she was certainly getting her wish.

When the waves of pleasure finally stopped and Cinder pulled her fingers out of Ruby, she felt empty in a way that left her whimpering. She only stopped when Cinder’s fingers pushed into her mouth, filling her with her own taste.

Cinder watched Ruby suck on her fingers fondly, eventually pulling them out and beginning to stroke the younger woman’s hair once again. Soon, Ruby’s eyelids fluttered back open, and the pair made eye contact. “How do you feel?”

“Good… but tired.” Ruby’s voice was even scratchier than before.

“Do you need a drink?”

“Mhm.”

Cinder helped pull Ruby up into a sitting position, then reached over to her bedside table to grab a glass of water she’d gotten ready before they started. It was kinda room temperature now, but eh, what are you gonna do? Ruby drank it down greedily regardless, while Cinder retrieved the towel she’d used to clean her hand earlier. Once Ruby was done with the water, she helped her to towel off the sweat and lingering fluids from their session, then lowered her back down to the bed. The girl seemed so tired, it was a miracle she hadn’t fallen asleep already.

When Cinder lay down beside Ruby, pulling her into a soft embrace, she let out a contented hum. Cinder couldn’t help a smile gracing her features as she felt Ruby nuzzle into her chest. “Good girl.” She whispered one last time, even as she felt the younger woman slowly go slack against her. Soon after, she too sunk into the cool embrace of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feel like as good a time as any to mention that since I'm an australian who doesn't know how the world works in america, this whole fic is set over here in aus.
> 
> No idea if that's ever gonna come up beyond minor details, but there you go. If you want to imagine the girls with incredibly thick accents, just know that you are completely correct.


	4. Just Slutty Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinder takes some time to examine her feelings, and isn't a huge fan of what she finds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy new year!  
> In this chapter, I make the snap decision that faunus still exist in this world because hey why not

Cinder was cold when she woke the next morning. It took her a few moments blearily feeling around the bed to realise that Ruby wasn’t there, presumably having gotten up already. Well, that was a great way to make her feel grumpy immediately after waking.

She reached out for one of the many pillows that Ruby kept all over her bed and pulled it into a tight hug. Just typical of that little menace to leave her all alone. Especially after last night. Last night…

Cinder was feeling conflicted. That was pretty normal for her recently, but still. Just sleeping together was already a lot, but calling Ruby hers was… too much. It was too much. They didn’t have that kind of relationship, and they didn’t want to. Even if thinking about it did kinda make her feel really happy.

She buried her face in the pillow she was hugging. Okay, maybe. Maybe. There was an outside chance that she did find Ruby pretty attractive. Not in any kind of emotional way, obviously, purely physically. That was normal, they were fucking, of course she’d be attracted to her body.

It was also possible that she had actually really enjoyed the time they’d spent together last night before they made it to the bedroom. Just getting to chat, to make her giggle… but that didn’t count. It was basically just extended foreplay. She only wanted Ruby to be hers in a sexual way, not romantically. Definitely not.

Not that what she wanted would really matter either way, there was barely anything between them as it was. Obviously they were fooling around together, but it was all meaningless. They hadn’t even agreed to be exclusive, or anything like that. Not that Cinder had anything else going on. But Ruby…

She sighed. Ruby was popular, pretty, smart, nice, really cute when she laughed, and had a really really nice butt. There were probably girls all over her. Cinder was just a fling she was having fun with at the moment. Maybe not even the only one of those. And chances are good that most of those other girls weren’t walking sacks of issues like Cinder.

The things Ruby had said the night before, they were easily explained away. The pair had settled pretty easily into a domme and sub dynamic. Ruby was just playing her part, she didn’t actually mean any of it. Even if Cinder did. She might’ve said those exact same things to some other girl the night before. The thought made Cinder feel a little sick.

It was at this point during Cinder’s fun game of ‘how sad can I make myself feel early in the morning’ that the door swung open. She rolled over and was welcomed by the sight of Ruby smiling warmly at her, something that only made the churn of emotions inside her worse.

“Morning.” Ruby spoke softly, walking over and taking a seat at the edge of the bed. “Sorry for not waking you, but you seemed really peaceful so I figured I’d let you rest a little longer. Want some water?” She held out a glass that she’d carried in for Cinder.

The mere mention of water made Cinder realise just how parched she was, so she sat herself up and accepted the glass, draining it quickly. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Ruby replied with a smile. She stood and took a moment to retrieve a plastic bag from the top of her dresser. “I’ve got those clothes I keep borrowing off you washed. I was gonna just give them to you but I figure since you’re here you might wanna wear them back home?”

“Yeah, sure.” Cinder stood to join Ruby, taking the bag off her hands when it was offered. “Where’s your bathroom so I can clean off?”

“Oh so like… when you walk out of here you’re in the living room, and then if you cross to the other side of that it’s just on the right.”

Simple enough. Cinder grunted in acknowledgement and then went to open the door, only to be stopped by a panicked cry of “OH WAIT!” and Ruby scrambling to push the door back closed. Cinder just raised her eyebrow in confusion as Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sorry, just remembered that my roommate is out there, so like. You should probably put something on first.”

Ah. Well, with that crisis averted, Cinder took a moment to quickly slip the shirt and shorts that she’d been wearing last night on before beginning the trek to the bathroom. True enough, she almost immediately caught sight of the aforementioned roommate when she stepped out.

The woman was seated in an armchair over on the other side of the room, long white hair tied up in a side-ponytail, with an angry scowl plastered over her face and aimed directly at Cinder. She actually looked pretty familiar, and after a moment Cinder realised that she was probably one of those girls Ruby had been with that night they met at the bar, the first time they'd slept together. She was pretty sure that Ruby had said their names, but… she hadn’t really been paying attention. She raised her eyebrow at the dirty look the girl was still shooting her way, but otherwise tried to pay her no mind while she walked across the room.

The shower didn’t bring as much comfort as Cinder had hoped. The water was nice enough, her shoulder was feeling pretty stiff and this did a lot to soothe that, but it didn’t do anything to ease the pressure in her head. Her thoughts just kept running back to Ruby, going round and round in circles over the same topics she’d been mulling in bed.

She didn’t know what she should do. Or even what she could do. It was aggravating, and frustrating, and… scary. She couldn’t escape the feeling that no matter what she tried it wouldn’t change anything, that Ruby would never seriously want her in the way that she apparently wanted Ruby.

Well, maybe that was one good thing at least. She’d managed to come to terms with the fact that she did want Ruby. Purely sexually of course, she definitely didn’t like her. But she could at the very least bring herself to admit that the girl was attractive, that there was more than just convenience driving her to accept these encounters.

She shut the water off and rubbed at her temples harshly. This would never end well. She was just setting herself up to be hurt, and every second she spent here was just going to make it worse when Ruby inevitably moved on.

As Cinder dried herself off and set about getting dressed, she became aware of slightly raised voices coming from the room beyond the door. Most of it was unintelligible, but as the conversation came to a close she did make out Ruby’s final statement quite clearly.

“Look, Weiss, I don’t wanna have this conversation right now. I get that you’re worried about me, but trust me when I say that she isn’t forcing me into anything. I can take care of myself, okay?”

Hm, sounds like the roommate (Weiss, apparently,) didn’t quite approve of Cinder. That tracked with the way she’d been glaring at her earlier. Cinder sighed a little. This certainly didn’t make this already difficult situation any easier. All those anxieties seemed to wash over her yet again, swirling about her head until they formed a dull ache, and she was overcome with a deep-seated need to just escape from all this.

She glanced over at the mirror one last time, adjusting her eyepatch slightly so that it was more snug against her skin, then took a steadying breath and stepped out of the bathroom. Weiss didn’t start staring at her again, which was a plus, although the way she glowered down at her phone, occasionally jabbing at it angrily, made it clear that her opinion probably hadn’t changed. Ruby on the other hand greeted her with another warm smile that set Cinder’s stomach churning.

“Hey Cinder! I was just about to start getting some breakfast, did you-”

“Actually,” Cinder cut her off before she could finish, “I’m leaving.”

“Oh…” Ruby seemed disappointed. “Are you sure? I was kinda looking forward to paying you back for all those breakfasts I’ve had at-”

Cinder's tone turned harsh. “I said I was leaving.”

Ruby opened her mouth to say something else, but Cinder pushed past her before she could, making her way to the door as quickly as she could.

\---

Cinder buried her face deeper into her pillow. It’d been a week since that morning, and she was still replaying it in her head. Even at the time, she’d known that wasn’t a good way to handle things, but she was feeling overwhelmed and stressed and all she wanted was to get out of there so that she wouldn’t have to think about all that bullshit anymore. Kinda ironic that it was pretty much all she’d been thinking about since.

Ruby hadn’t texted her since, nor randomly shown up somewhere Cinder was (To be fair, that would’ve been impressive considering Cinder had barely left her room). She was pretty sure that she’d managed to piss Ruby off badly enough to entirely fuck things up immediately after realising that she actually had skin in the game, which honestly felt like the story of her life. She just wished that she could have a chance to talk to Ruby again, apologise for storming out. But that seemed unlikely at this point.

It was, predictably, at that moment that Cinder’s phone buzzed to life with a message alert. She pounced on it like a cheetah bringing down a gazelle. Sure enough, it was from Ruby.

_heya!_  
_i was wondering if u wanted to get together again sometime owo_

She could feel a peculiar cocktail of relief and excitement rushing through her body as she tapped out her reply.

_I guess I could make some time for you._  
_My place, tonight?_

The brief time it took Ruby to reply felt like an eternity.

_actually i had a diff idea_  
_me n some friends are going to the movies tomorrow_  
_n we already got all the tickets but then someone had to pull out_  
_i was thinking maybe you could come instead n use their ticket?_

Cinder felt herself deflate slightly. It seemed she was just being used as the second choice.

_Hanging out with your loser friends isn’t my idea of a good time._

_i mean we can go have a good time on our own afterward ;))))))_  
_no pressure tho if u dont wanna see the movie I can inv someone else_

Someone else… probably someone else Ruby would be ‘having a good time’ with afterward too. Her stomach started to feel nauseous.

_It’s fine, I’ll go._  
_Nothing better to do that day._

_:D_  
_gimme a sec ill send u the deets_

She set her phone down and sighed. It was certainly better than the nothing she’d been working with just a little earlier, definitely a chance to try and make amends, but she still couldn’t help but feel uneasy. She needed something to help her at least seem confident, even if she didn’t feel it. It was this train of thought that brought her out of her room and over to Neo’s door. She took a second to steel herself for the barrage of teasing that she was about to open herself up to, then gave three short knocks.

“Yo.” Neo signed as she swung the door open. “Nice to see you up and about. Ooh, don’t tell me, did something good happen? Something to do with a certain… rose?” She punctuated the statement with a waggle of her eyebrows.

Cinder was already starting to regret this. “I’m going out tomorrow. I was wondering if you could help me with my makeup.”

“Ooooh, anything for my favourite lovebirds.” She signed back, practically vibrating with excitement.

\---

Cinder stared deeply into the mirror, examining her eyeliner. There weren’t exactly many perks to only having one eye, but she supposed not needing to try and replicate her wings on the other side had to count for something. Not that she had been the one applying it, there were also perks to having a makeup artist for a roommate/best friend.

She glanced down. Neo was just finishing up applying the top-coat to her nails, which had been painted a lovely golden-amber colour that the gremlin had insisted would complement her eye. Now that she could see it more or less done, Cinder was inclined to agree. It had been a good choice.

After another few moments Neo pulled back with a satisfied smile. “All done, just give it a little time to dry and you’ll be good to go.”

Cinder looked down at herself. They’d already picked out her outfit (She’d made sure to grab those stockings Ruby had liked, along with her nicest pair of short-shorts), and with the makeup all done she was more or less ready to go. The sense of apprehension she’d been feeling ever since Ruby messaged her yesterday was only growing stronger.

“Hey, uh, Neo… thanks a lot for this. I really appreciate it.”

When Cinder looked back over at Neo, she was staring at her in shock. “Oh god. The world isn’t ending or something is it?”

“Well,” Cinder rolled her eye, “Fuck me for trying to be sincere for once.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Neo shook with silent laughter. “You’re gonna do great, babe. You know that right?” She leaned in and wrapped her arms around Cinder in a short, loose, hug before pulling back to continue signing. “Ruby won’t know what hit her.”

“Yeah… yeah I’ve got this.” Cinder drew in a deep, shaky breath. She stood to her full height and examined herself in the mirror one last time. “… I don’t look too slutty, do I?”

Neo smiled. “You look just slutty enough.”

“Perfect.”

\---

Ruby stared at Cinder as she approached. It seems that they’d both decided to get to the group meeting place a little early. Okay, deep breaths girl. You’ve got this.

“Wow,” Ruby spoke once they neared, “You look really great.”

“I always do.”

She laughed at that. “That’s true! But especially today. I’m really glad you decided to come, by the way. Sorry, I know it’s not really your scene.”

“Yeah well, like I said, nothing better to do today.”

They stood in awkward silence for a short while, each seemingly waiting for the other to make the next move, until Cinder finally sighed. Alright, seems she was just going to have to dive straight in. “Hey, Ruby… I’d like to apologise for last week, if that’s alright. It was rude of me to storm off like that. I was just… feeling pretty stressed over some stuff and I let it get the better of me.”

“You…” Ruby seemed almost as shocked as Neo had been when Cinder thanked her. “You’re apologising to me?”

“Is it really that hard to believe?” It probably was, this was hardly the rudest thing Cinder had done to her over the years, and it was definitely the first apology she’d given.

“Oh! No, I didn’t mean it like that, I just thought I was gonna be the one saying sorry to you today.”

Cinder blinked slowly. “What? Why would you say sorry, I was the one who fucked up? I thought you were mad at me?”

“No, no I definitely wasn’t! Actually, I thought you ran off that morning ‘cause I was being too pushy. I mean, we already slept together a bunch that week and then I turned up at your show without telling you and made you spend the night with me. So uh, I was planning on saying sorry for all that.”

“Oh… right. So… you weren’t texting me because you thought I needed space?”

“Yeah… I’m really sorry, I can see how that must’ve made you think I was upset.”

“Right, well. You were fine. If I hadn’t wanted to spend the night with you, I wouldn’t have.”

“And you’re fine too. It honestly wasn’t that rude, and I get being a little snippy when you’re stressed about stuff.”

“Okay… I uh, I guess we’re all fine then?”

“I guess so?” Ruby paused for a few moments to think, before a sheepish expression overtook her face. “That was a bit of an embarrassing misunderstanding, huh? Honestly, I’d been feeling pretty worried that I’d just driven you off entirely. It’s really good to know I was wrong.”

Cinder started twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. “You were… worried about that happening?”

“Well, yeah,” Ruby gave her a playful shove, “I’ve been enjoying spending time with you, I’d hate to mess that up so quickly.”

“Ah.” Cinder could curse herself for the small blush that lit up her cheeks. “I’ve… enjoyed spending time with you, too.”

“It’s funny, I bet the Ruby of a few weeks ago would never believe me if I told her that I was gonna think that so soon.” Ruby paused again, then shone a warm smile at Cinder. “Hey, is it alright if I kiss you?”

Her blush deepened. “I mean… if you want to, I guess I wouldn’t object.”

Without missing a beat, Ruby closed the distance between them, slipping a hand round the back of Cinder’s head and pulling her into a soft kiss. Cinder tensed up at first, but then slowly allowed herself to relax into it. While this conversation hadn’t erased all her anxieties, it had certainly eased a lot of them. She hadn’t fucked everything up like she’d been afraid of. And… the way Ruby seemed to maybe think more of this whole thing than just a casual fling made her feel remarkably hopeful. She knew she shouldn’t, that she’d just be setting herself up for disappointment later, but maybe just for now believing a little wouldn’t be so bad. At the very least hanging on to that feeling might help her be a little more confident today.

She let her hand drift down onto Ruby’s butt and gave it a gentle squeeze, causing the girl to let out a soft “Oh~” against her lips. They’d both been missing this badly, and when Cinder went to deepen the kiss Ruby accepted immediately. They both groaned happily as their mouths were flooded with the other’s taste. It was a wonderful moment, the pair each basking in the other’s presence, pressing tightly together, focusing entirely on this kiss as if it was the only thing in the world.

They were soon interrupted by a low wolf-whistle and a woman’s voice calling out to them. “Looks like we picked a great time to show up.”

Ruby let out a cute eep noise and sprang away from Cinder. “Y-Yang!” Cinder regarded the newcomers. There were two of them, a blonde woman wearing a cool bomber jacket, Yang apparently, and a faunus girl with dark black hair who seemed to be barely containing her laughter. After thinking about it for a few seconds, Cinder was pretty sure that these were the other two girls Ruby had been with that night this all started.

“G’day you two,” Yang continued, “Seems like you’re getting along pretty well, managed to get yourself a real catch, hey Rubes?”

Ruby’s face lit up with an embarrassed blush. “Why did you have to show up right then…” she turned to the faunus girl for support. “Blake please make her stop.”

“Sorry Ruby, but to be fair this is the exact time and place you told us all to meet up, so…”

“Ugh, knew I should’ve kept better track of the time.” Ruby pouted.

Cinder just barely managed to suppress a short laugh at that. She was feeling embarrassed about all this as well, but with how cute Ruby was being it was easy to ignore.

“Hey Ruby,” Yang chimed back in, “Are you gonna introduce us or what?”

“Oh, uh, right,” She stammered, “Cinder, this is my sister Yang and her girlfriend Blake, and you two, this is Cinder, the new friend I mentioned was coming today.”

Blake was the first to speak. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise.” Cinder nodded back.

“Oh, hey, help me and Blake settle a bet,” Yang grinned at her, “Are you the same girl that Ruby’s been complaining about getting into arguments with for the last like, three years?”

“Yeah, that’d be me.”

Yang barked with laughter. “Hah! Oh god, that’s priceless.”

The rest of the little group they were meeting with filed in over the course of the next few minutes. Weiss was the next to arrive, she apparently still wasn’t a big fan of Cinder judging by the disapproving looks she kept shooting at the older woman. After her there was… a whole bunch of people. Ruby introduced them all, and Cinder was honestly trying to keep up, but she’d never been very good with names and most of them ended up going in one ear and out the other. She was pretty sure the blonde guy’s name was Jim, but beyond that she had no idea.

With the gang all together, they proceeded to make their way to the theater, collect their tickets, and find their seats. Cinder was lucky enough to get the seat right at the end of the row, with Ruby sitting beside her, which meant she wouldn’t have to deal with having any of the people she didn’t know next to her. Now all she had to do was sit back and do her best to enjoy the movie.

\---

“God, this is shit.” Cinder murmured.

They were an hour and a half in and things weren’t going great. The movie was some aggressively straight romantic drama where fuck-all happened and every single scene was drawn out to be 3 times as long as it needed to be. Cinder swore to herself that if the main girl tried to confess her love to the bland white boy protagonist only for him to misinterpret her _again_ she was going to scream.

“It’s pretty bad, huh,” Ruby whispered, leaning across the armrest that separated them, “For the record, I voted against this but the others overruled me.”

“Figures, they all look like they’ve got terrible taste.”

Ruby snorted at that and gave Cinder a playful shove. “Don’t be mean. And does that mean you think I have good taste?”

“Hmm,” Cinder feigned a thoughtful expression, “Well, you’re sleeping with me, so that means you have good taste in girls at the very least.”

Ruby had to cover her mouth to stifle the giggle that escaped, earning a harsh “Shhh” from someone further along the row who was clearly a whole lot more invested in this movie than either of them. When she was done laughing, Ruby leaned in even closer to Cinder, whispering almost directly into her ear. “Since the movie’s so bad, do you wanna have a little fun?”

Cinder looked down at Ruby, a fire slowly starting to come on inside her. “What did you have in mind?”

“Nothing too extreme,” Ruby demurred, “But maybe you could tease me a little, some slight touching, as a warm up for later?”

Cinder ran her tongue over her lips. She could still taste the barest hint of Ruby’s strawberry chapstick from their earlier kiss. “Just be sure to be quiet.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Ruby’s body tensed noticeably when Cinder slipped her hand beneath the armrest and began to trail her fingers along the younger woman’s thigh. She took a second to appreciate the softness of Ruby's bare skin, slowly trailing her fingers higher until they slipped under her skirt. Ruby was trying her hardest to keep her reactions muted, but she couldn't stop the shiver that ran through her when, with painstaking slowness, Cinder started to move her hand over the leg, traveling toward the inner thigh.

Cinder smiled to herself when Ruby’s breath hitched just barely loud enough for her to hear. This really was a lot more fun than watching the movie. Silver eyes stared ardently up at her as she began tracing whatever random patterns she could think of, letters, numbers, shapes, on that tender skin. Ruby spread her legs a little wider, shifting about in place subtly to offer Cinder easier access. She wouldn’t be rushed though, only occasionally sliding her fingers higher, closer to Ruby’s core, enjoying the way it made the younger girl gasp mutedly.

“That’s my good girl, nice and quiet.” She murmured, watching as Ruby practically melted in her seat. The degree to which the younger girl enjoyed praise was an exciting discovery from their last night together, and Cinder was happy to find that it wasn’t a one-off thing.

When Cinder suddenly pressed her nails against Ruby’s skin and pulled them all the way up her thigh till they were resting against the fabric of her underwear, the younger woman let out an adorable squeak that garnered another annoyed “Shhhhh”ing. Nonplussed, Cinder pressed her fingers down against that fabric, delighting in the dampness she could feel gathering in Ruby’s crotch.

“Such an excitable girl, aren’t you?” Cinder decided to indulge herself, gently rubbing up and down along Ruby’s crotch. Not enough pressure to actually get her off, but enough to torment her. “… And all mine.” She finished, ignoring the lump that formed in her throat at the thought.

Ruby was biting down hard on her lip in an effort to avoid any more noises, but managed to shakily nod in response. She could swear that there was some kind of black magic imbued in Cinder’s fingertips, the way they seemed to light up her entire body with the barest touch.

It seemed that the movie was wrapping up now, with the main couple kissing while some random pop song that Cinder would probably have recognised if she kept up with these things played in the background. She pulled her hand back down Ruby’s thigh, getting one last hit of enjoyment out of the muffled whine the girl let out, before returning it to her side of the armrest. It had been a lot of fun while it lasted, but she contented herself with the knowledge that it had just been an appetiser before the main course that was waiting for her.

The credits began to roll, and as the lights came up Cinder glanced down the row at Ruby’s assortment of friends, chatting amongst each other and gathering up their things. All so unaware of what had just been going on right next to them. It filled Cinder with an impish sense of satisfaction.

“Hey, Cinder,” Ruby whispered, catching hold of Cinder’s attention, “I’m really worked up.”

She smirked. “I wonder why.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. What I’m saying is, the others are probably gonna all go get something to eat after this, but I really don’t wanna have to wait that long. Would it be alright with you if we skipped out, went back to my place and… kept going?”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind sticking around if you want to stay with your friends longer.”

“I’m sure.”

“In that case, ” Cinder stood up, reaching a hand down to help Ruby to her feet, “I think that would work out nicely.”

The pair caught up with the rest of the group on the footpath outside of the cinema, all standing in a loose circle and chatting jovially. Jim (Maybe? Cinder was feeling less confident about that at this point) was the first to notice them approaching, giving them a warm wave and asking, “Hey you two, what did you think?”

Ruby responded without missing a beat. “The start didn’t really grab me, but I was having a lot of fun by the end.”

“Yeah, I liked how… touchy feely it was.” Cinder added.

The redhead standing beside Jim nodded solemnly, her eyes red and puffy from tears. “They just… they just loved each other so much.”

“Well,” Jim slung a comforting arm around the girl’s shoulders, “We were just deciding what to do for dinner. I think we’ve all settled on a burger place up the road that Pyrrha wanted to try.”

“Ah, actually we might have to skip out, sorry. I’m feeling pretty tired, and Cinder offered to help me get back home. You all enjoy yourselves though!” Ruby replied smoothly.

“Aw, that’s a shame.” He turned to Cinder. “It was nice meeting you, thanks for helping Ruby out like this.”

Before Cinder could respond, Weiss interjected. “If it’s too much trouble I can take her back. It is my apartment too, after all.”

Cinder gave the girl the most self satisfied smirk she could manage and then waved her off. “Oh, it’s no trouble at all. You go have fun, I’m sure me and Ruby will manage just fine.”

Weiss glowered, but otherwise didn’t respond.

\---

They only barely made it through the door before Ruby launched herself at Cinder, pushing the older woman up against the wall before beginning to shamelessly grind against her thigh. Their lips met in a harsh kiss that left Ruby groaning needily and grinding with more and more intensity, all the while Cinder’s hand snaked its way down her back. Soon it found its way to Ruby’s butt, and began to grope and scratch at the soft, pillowy flesh there.

The assault caused Ruby to pull away from the kiss, burying her head instead in the crook of Cinder’s neck in an effort to muffle the loud moan that leaked out of her. “My, my,” Cinder laughed, “Someone’s lacking in self-control. We haven’t even made it to the bedroom yet.”

Ruby pulled back slightly, looking up at Cinder with half-lidded eyes. “Told you I was all worked up.”

Cinder smiled, but all the same slid her hand around to grip onto Ruby’s hip, coaxing her into slowing, and ultimately stopping, her grinding motions. “Be that as it may, I do still have some standards. Go wait for me in your bedroom, I’ll be right in.”

She pouted, but all the same pulled away, leaving Cinder to quickly grab a drink from the kitchen, fill up a pair of glasses with water, and then grab a clean towel out of the bathroom. When she finally made it into the bedroom, she was surprised to find Ruby still more or less fully clothed, sprawled out on the bed and looking expectantly up at her.

“Hmm,” Cinder made her way over to Ruby, setting the water and towel down beside the bed for later, “I would’ve thought you’d be undressed by now.”

Ruby squirmed slightly. “I was thinking… it might be fun to do it like this? If that’s alright.”

“I don’t see why not. Do you want a drink or anything before we start?”

She answered with a shake of the head. “I’m ready.”

Cinder gave Ruby’s cheek a gentle caress before she climbed up onto the bed and asserted herself above her. She leaned down, pressing wet kisses to Ruby’s throat as the younger woman hummed in appreciation. Ruby was so eager… so eager for her, for her touch, it sent Cinder’s heart fluttering. Like this, she could almost forget her fears about how Ruby really felt.

“Ruby,” she murmured in between kisses, “Tell me that you want me.”

Ruby giggled breathily. “Don’t you already know that?”

“I… I want to hear you say it.”

“Alright,” Ruby began, pausing to suck in a deep breath when Cinder began to nip at the skin of her neck, “I want you, Cinder. I want you so bad.” She let her eyes flutter shut. “It’s all I’ve been able to think about. As soon as I saw you today, all dressed up. Those stockings, those shorts. I just wanted you on top of me, inside me. Wanted to cum for you.”

Cinder could feel her breath growing heavy as she shifted up to whisper directly into Ruby’s ear. “That’s because you’re a good girl, Ruby. My good girl.”

“P-Please… please… make me cum for you.”

Cinder felt like she was soaring. Ruby was so pliant, so cute, so desperate. All she wanted to do in that moment was make her cum so hard she wouldn’t be able to think any more. She shifted about, slipping her hand beneath Ruby’s skirt and hooking her fingers around the waistband of her underwear. Ruby groaned in excitement as Cinder slowly worked the underwear down her legs, practically trembling by the time they were finally off.

Cinder spent a moment admiring the discarded panties, soaked as they were, then turned her attention back to Ruby. She trailed her hand back up the younger woman’s leg, stopping just a few centimetres away from her core. “You’ve been such a good, patient girl for me, haven’t you Ruby?”

Ruby’s only response was to squirm and whimper, prompting a short laugh from Cinder. “It’s okay, I’m here for you now. I’m going to give you exactly what you need.”

Cinder moved her hand up that last, painful, little bit of distance that separated it from Ruby’s pussy. She trailed her fingers along the slit, working her fingers between the folds, spreading Ruby apart. The girl was so soft, so wet, she felt wonderful and Cinder found herself feeling breathless just from touching her like this.

Ruby, of course, was equally breathless. Her hips jerked forward into Cinder’s touch even as her hands tangled tightly into the bedsheets. She could feel herself throbbing intensely already. As Cinder pushed deep inside her, she let out a plaintive mewl. It was such a sweet sound. Cinder needed to hear more.

With two of her fingers now buried deep inside Ruby, Cinder pressed her palm down against the girl’s clit, rubbing it back and forth. Ruby reacted immediately, throwing her head back and yelping loudly. “Cin-Cinder!”

In response, Cinder pressed her palm down hard and started to thrust her fingers into Ruby. The girl’s back arched off the bed as she let out another mewling cry, only to be cut off when Cinder moved to capture her lips in a heated kiss. The thrusting continued even as Cinder’s tongue invaded Ruby’s mouth, the pair each moaning into the other desperately.

They soon had to break apart for air, and Cinder took the opportunity to admire the state that Ruby had been reduced to. “You’re such a cute slut for me. It’s almost like you belong beneath me like this, don’t you think?” She curled her fingers, searching for the spots that she knew would make Ruby scream.

“I-I do! I- Ah!” Ruby tried to stammer out a response, but when Cinder finally found that sensitive spot inside her she cut herself off with a cry that filled the apartment. Her body was barely listening to her any more, instead just mindlessly trying to press into Cinder, chasing after the pleasure that she provides.

“That’s right, you’re doing so well for me. My very own cute little slut.” She hit that spot again, drawing another shriek out of Ruby. “Are you ready to cum for me?”

Ruby seemed to be trying to respond, but couldn’t form any words in the brief spaces between her panting and moaning. Instead she settled for a shaky nod while staring desperately into Cinder’s burning golden eye. The older woman looked so beautiful like this, so in control, and yet so hungry for her. Ruby could practically feel herself melting under that intense gaze.

“You’re so perfect, Ruby.” With that, Cinder bit down hard on the crook of Ruby’s neck, at the same time curling her fingers to hit that sensitive spot again.

The orgasm came hard and fast, rapidly overwhelming all of Ruby’s senses. She wrapped her arms tightly around Cinder, clinging on for dear life as her body began to spasm with wave after wave of pleasure. The entirety of her awareness was taken up by Cinder. Cinder’s body pressed against hers, Cinder’s fingers buried inside her, Cinder’s voice gently cooing in delight next to her ear. It was like the rest of the world didn’t exist.

Cinder watched fondly as Ruby’s body gradually stilled. She took the opportunity to withdraw her hand and wipe it clean on the younger girl’s skirt. Ruby whined softly at the loss of sensation, but quietened when Cinder pressed a soft kiss against her forehead.

“You look so beautiful when you cum, Ruby.”

After taking another few moments to recover, she pulled back a touch and smiled softly up at Cinder. “I’ll never get over how you can just say such embarrassing stuff like it’s nothing.”

“Hmm? You mean like,” Cinder ran her fingers up the length of Ruby’s spine, causing the girl to shiver slightly, “Calling you my cute little slut?”

“Yeah,” she giggled airily, “Exactly like that.”

“It’s only because it’s true.”

“Would it be alright if we went another round? I’m still kinda…” Ruby shifted slightly, rubbing her legs against each other.

“Such a horny slut. But alright.” Cinder pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Any requests?”

“Uhm… actually there was something I was wondering if we could try out.”

Ruby (with a little help from Cinder) pushed herself out of the bed, and then walked a little unsteadily over to her desk. She began rooting around through one of the drawers, eventually producing a small black plastic bag that she carried back over to the bed. “So uh,” She smiled a touch sheepishly at Cinder, “Promise you’re not gonna laugh.”

Cinder raised her eyebrow. “Alright, I won’t laugh.”

“Okay, so, I just happened to see these online and I thought, ‘hey, that might kinda be a little bit of fun’ so I ordered a pair. It’s not, like, a big deal or anything, it’s just… yeah.” With that, she reached into the bag and produced a pair of padded leather handcuffs.

Cinder couldn’t stop a slight laugh from squeaking out of her, earning a pout from Ruby. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just,” She leaned in close enough that Ruby could feel her breathing brushing against her ear, “You’re so wonderfully subby, it’s adorable. What do you say we get these onto you?”

“I-I um… y-yes ma’am.”

Ruby blushed hard as Cinder took the cuffs from her, guiding her hands behind her back before fastening them in the padded leather. “Is that okay? Not too uncomfortable?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“One last thing before we start. I think if we’re getting into this we should maybe decide on a safe word, just in case. Do you have any ideas? Just something easy to remember that you’re not going to say otherwise.”

“Uhm… what about silver?”

“Perfect. If you ever want to stop, for any reason, just say silver and we will. Got it?”

“Mhm.”

Cinder smiled at her. “Good girl. Now, let me take care of you.”

At Cinder’s direction, Ruby took position on her knees in the middle of the bed and leaned forward, resting her head against the bed while leaving her pussy wonderfully exposed for Cinder. Excitement built within as Cinder took position behind her. She was so at the older woman’s mercy like this, barely able to even move her arms, bound together behind her as they were. It was intoxicating.

Cinder was feeling intoxicated for an entirely different set of reasons. The fact Ruby trusted her enough for something like this… it made her feel light, and happy. Surely this was a good sign? Or maybe not, maybe she really did just feel like trying it out and didn’t care beyond that. She banished the negative thoughts away. Whatever the future might hold, she resolved herself to at least enjoy the here and now.

“All ready?”

“Yes.”

She reached out and hiked up Ruby’s skirt, getting an eyeful of the younger girl’s wonderful butt. As if on reflex, she gave it a hard spank, earning a startled yelp from Ruby. Before she could recover, Cinder repeated the motion, leaving behind an angry red mark.

“You’re being such a needy girl, aren’t you Ruby? I already toyed with you at the theater, then took such good care of you here, and then you still want more?” She clicked her tongue in faux disapproval. “Don’t you think a dirty little slut should start by thanking me before she goes asking for more?”

“Oh, uh, thank you, ma’am, I- ah!” Another stinging impact interrupted her. “Y-You t-take such good care of me. O-Of your slut. I-I’m so lucky to be yours.”

Satisfaction welled up inside Cinder. “That’s right, you’re all mine.” She trailed a finger down the length of Ruby’s slit, dragging a breathless moan out of the girl. “All bound up, helpless before me. So desperate for my touch.”

“I-I am. I need you so bad. You make me feel so good, I-I’ll do anything for it.”

“Aww, you would, wouldn’t you?” She pulled her hand back and gave Ruby another spank. Less forceful than before, but still enough to make her whimper. “I wonder what all those friends of yours would think if they could see you like this? They all think you’re so innocent and sweet, would they be disappointed if they found out that you’re really just a dumb slut?”

“Please… pl-please give it to me, ma’am.”

Cinder let out a short laugh. “Alright, I think you’ve waited enough.” She lowered her head down to be level with Ruby’s butt, taking a moment to press some soft kisses against the lingering marks from the spanking before turning her attention to more pressing matters. Ruby’s pussy was dripping wet, and when Cinder gave it its first lick of the night the taste was heavenly.

The air was soon filled with the sweet sounds of Ruby losing herself to pleasure as Cinder went to work. It felt so good that Ruby decided it had to be sinful, that sweet tongue flicking against her folds, pushing inside her, occasionally swiping against her clit. Soon Cinder began moaning into her in turn, those wonderful vibrations suffusing through her body and forming the most wonderful partnership with the scorching heat that was already consuming her.

Cinder’s hand found its way up to Ruby’s clit, beginning to rub firm circles around it as her tongue continued to lap at her snatch. Ruby’s body quivered relentlessly in response to Cinder’s assault, her face grinding against the mattress as she was fucked into it. She was close already, and they both knew it.

Cinder let her tongue delve as deep into Ruby as she could manage, lashing it about inside while her fingers continued to attack the girl’s clit. With one last strangled cry Ruby came all over Cinder’s mouth, her juices flowing wildly as her body writhed in pleasure. Cinder drank it in greedily, savouring Ruby’s taste as the orgasm washed over the younger girl.

When it at last ended, Ruby slumped down onto the bed, panting gently for breath as Cinder sidled up beside her. “So,” The older woman smirked at her, “Feel satisfied yet?”

“Yeah… that was really good. I think the cuffs… being kinda helpless like that… it was nice.”

“Good to know,” Cinder leant in and pressed a gentle kiss against Ruby’s lips, “Now, let me get those off of you.”

“Actually… I was wondering if maybe I could keep them on for a bit… and maybe eat you out while they’re on?”

“You don’t need to do that, Ruby. You seem worn out, I don’t mind if you don’t get me back.”

“I know, but I want to. You’re so good to me, I want to show you how much I appreciate that. If you’re okay with it, of course.”

Cinder’s breath hitched slightly as she reached out and stroked Ruby’s hair. Why is it that everything this girl does makes her feel so… happy? “You don’t need to prove yourself to me. But… I think I’d like that a lot if you’re up to it.”

Ruby nodded enthusiastically and then somewhat awkwardly shuffled down the bed while Cinder shucked off her clothes. Soon Ruby was between Cinder’s legs, staring hungrily up at her with hands still bound behind her back. “One more thing, Cinder. Could you… maybe call me your pet again? I uhm, liked that a lot.”

“Of course,” Cinder did her best to ignore the way her heart pounded at that request, instead reaching down to run her hand through Ruby’s hair, “You’ve been such a good pet for me all night, after all. Tell me, would you like a reward?”

Ruby slipped into her role immediately, releasing a soft sigh as she tilted her head into Cinder’s touch. “Yes ma’am… please, I-I’ve been a good pet.”

“Then, go ahead and eat it all up for me.” Cinder used her hand in Ruby’s hair to guide the girl’s mouth down onto her pussy. She’d been trying to ignore it, but now as Ruby’s sweet lips pressed against her she was struck by just how aroused she was feeling. It was understandable given everything they’d been doing so far that she’d be pretty turned on, but now she was confronted by just how much heat and pressure had already built up inside her.

It was all helped along by Ruby, who while not the most skilled at oral sex (especially without being able to use her hands), was certainly enthusiastic. She made an absolute mess of things, lapping at Cinder with unmatched fervor, searching for the sensitive spots that would earn her the most praise.

“Ah! s-such a good pet~” Cinder panted out between gasps. Ruby’s tongue felt so wonderful against her, like a bolt of pure silk sliding across her skin. Occasionally she’d pull at Ruby’s hair, guiding her back toward those sensitive places when she strayed, the pair both reveling in the sense of control she had over the younger girl.

Ruby soon switched things up, locating Cinder’s clit, taking it into her mouth, and sucking hard at it. The older woman’s hand suddenly clenched in her hair as a lewd moan filled the air, prompting Ruby to keep at it, sucking harder while occasionally flicking her tongue against the little button.

“Y-You’re doing so well for me, pet. I’m so- ah! So close! Just a little more.”

Ruby released Cinder’s clit briefly to moan at the praise, then returned to it, this time pressing her tongue against it and licking firmly. Cinder’s grip clenched again, this time holding Ruby in place as the older woman’s hips began to jerk harshly into her, riding against her face.

Cinder’s orgasm was intense, she was practically shouting throughout the whole thing, but brief. When she collapsed down to the bed and finally released Ruby’s hair, the younger girl gazed up at her body, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, limbs limp, chest heaving with each breath. She looked incredible in that moment, and Ruby was reminded of what Cinder had said earlier about how beautiful she had looked when she came.

Eventually, when she had confidence in the strength of her arm, Cinder pushed herself up and looked down at the cute little thing still nestled between her thighs. “You did such a good job tonight, Ruby. Here, let me take these off.”

With the cuffs removed, Ruby pushed herself up too, nuzzling up against Cinder as she did. “So, did you see how much I appreciate you?”

“I certainly did,” Cinder snorted, “Are you okay? Arms sore?”

“A little, but not too bad. My butt’s still stinging a bit too.”

“Ah,” Cinder looked around for where she’d left her purse, “I actually found some ointment that’s meant to help with… well y’know. That. I can put it on for you if you want.”

“That sounds good, but in a minute. First, are you hungry? ‘Cause I’m starving.”

She suddenly noticed just how empty her stomach felt, and was reminded of the fact that they’d skipped out on dinner. “Yeah, actually. Want to look for something in the kitchen?”

“Mmm… too tired to make anything. I was thinking we could order something in, there’s a Thai place pretty close that’s nice if that’s alright with you?”

“That sounds great.”

Ruby pulled back a touch, enough to smile up at Cinder, and then pulled her into a kiss. Their lips moved against each other smoothly, quiet groans filling the air around them. “I’m really glad you decided to come today. It made me happy.” Ruby whispered when they finally pulled apart.

“I um…” Cinder swallowed down a lump in her throat. “Me too. It made me happy too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the length of this one ended up getting away from me a bit, so thanks a lot for taking the time to read through it!


	5. Interlude: Goodnight, Weiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Cinder and Ruby depart the theater together, Weiss is left to grapple with her thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya everyone! bit of a double whammy update today, with this being a short interlude from weiss's perspective and the next chapter being more of a standard one. hope that you enjoy!

Weiss drummed her fingers on the table with increasing frustration. Today, what was supposed to be their regularly scheduled group hangout, had gone poorly to say the least. Across from her at the table they’d managed to snag for dinner sat Blake and Yang, being as over the top sappy as ever, while to her left Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren were all engaged in some animated discussion that she wasn’t paying attention to. That just left the empty space to her right. The space where Ruby would have been sitting, normally. If she hadn’t left already with… ugh. Cinder.

To say Weiss wasn’t a fan of the woman would be an understatement. Ever since Ruby had caught sight of her at that bar a few weeks back (a place Weiss hadn’t even wanted to go to in the first place, for the record) things had been going downhill. First she’d left Weiss, along with Blake and Yang, at their table to chase after the older woman. Then, she’d apparently managed to get seduced, a fact Weiss had to find out from Yang when a half-hour after running out on them Ruby shot her a text saying not to wait for her, that she’d be spending the night with this mystery girl than none of them even knew. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Ruby just kept going back to her, over and over, night after night.

It just didn’t make sense. Ruby wasn’t that sort of girl. Cinder had to be tricking her, or… or doing something to make her act this way. Weiss’s drumming grew more agitated. And yet, whenever Weiss tried to bring it up with Ruby, tried to let her know that she disapproved, Ruby just shot her down. ‘It’s not like that, Weiss. Cinder wouldn’t do something like that, Weiss. Cinder’s a nice person, Weiss.’ Why couldn’t Ruby see what was so obviously going on with this woman? The way she was separating Ruby from the rest of them, from Weiss, and dragging her into her clutches. She could still remember Cinder’s smug expression as they left after the movie. It made her furious.

“Hey, is everything okay Weiss? You’ve barely eaten.”

She snapped back to reality as Blake spoke to her from across the table. “I’m fine. Just not hungry.”

“Are you sure? You… look a little upset. Is it anything you need to talk about?”

“No.” Weiss huffed, then stared down at the salad she’d barely touched for the past 20 minutes. After a few moments she spoke again. “It’s just… doesn’t she annoy you?”

When she looked back up, Blake was tilting her head slightly. “Who?”

“You know. Cinder. I mean, what’s even her deal?”

“Eh, I dunno,” Yang interjected, “Didn’t get to talk to her much, but I think she and Ruby make a cute couple. Oh, hey, did we tell you that when me and Blake turned up today they were totally sucking face right there in public.” She laughed as she spoke, reclining back into her seat. “Rubes was so embarrassed when she realised we saw. Priceless, never thought I’d catch her doing something like that.”

Weiss could feel her earlier anger resurging. “That’s exactly the problem! They’re so all over each other. I mean, Cinder wasn’t even meant to be here today, but then apparently she’s suddenly invited the day before, and then Ruby’s skipping out on the rest of us to spend the night with her instead.”

“Well, they’ve only been going out for what, three weeks? And it seems like they’re both really into each other. I think being a little all over each other is pretty normal at this stage.” Yang glanced over at Blake, shooting her a wink. “Remember what we were like back when I first asked you out?”

Blake snorted. “Don’t remind me, I’ve never embarrassed myself so much in my life. Ilia couldn’t look me in the eye for like, a week after the first time you stayed the night at our place.”

“Not my fault we’re so loud together.”

“Ugh,” Weiss rolled her eyes, “Can you two avoid being gross in front of me? And I don’t understand how you don’t see something wrong with this. I mean, weren’t you saying earlier that Cinder really was that girl who kept picking fights with Ruby? What are the chances that she just suddenly turned around and decided she liked her? I think it’s a lot more likely that she’s just taking advantage of Ruby, and that she’s just gonna toss her aside as soon as she feels like it. I mean, Don’t you care about Ruby getting hurt?”

Yang looked back to Weiss, frowning. “Of course I care about that. But Ruby’s not some little kid anymore, she’s an adult. I don’t think she needs or wants me trying to police her love life. And frankly, I think you’re being more than a little paranoid here.”

“Oh, so you’re just gonna sit back and let Ruby be… be used and abused by some girl that clearly hates her. Just gonna let her get hurt. Real sister of the year material there.”

Weiss could practically see the anger crackling behind Yang’s eyes. Clearly she’d hit a nerve. “I’d never let Ruby get hurt. If I actually thought something was going on, I’d step in in a heartbeat. Luckily, unlike some people, I’m not stuck living in denial, so I can see that they’re actually happy together.” Yang was standing at this point, staring down at Weiss. “I trust Ruby enough to make her own decisions, and to come to me if she needs my help.”

“Yang.” Blake spoke softly, resting a hand on Yang’s shoulder. The blonde huffed in annoyance, but dropped back down to her seat. “It’s true that, when you’re caught up in a relationship, it can be easy to ignore things that your partner is doing to you. It can be easy to wind up badly hurt, without even really realising it until it’s already happened. And it can be very hard for people on the outside to know what’s happening, to know that you needed help.” 

She turned her gaze over to Weiss. “But it’s also true that that’s a very serious accusation to level at someone, especially if you don’t know for sure. And If there really is something untoward going on, storming up to Ruby and demanding that they split up isn’t the answer, that’s just going to make her feel more isolated. I think that the best thing that we can do is be there for Ruby, talk to her about what’s going on between them, and pay attention to anything that might be a red flag. If there really isn’t anything bad going on, then we can rest easy, and if there is, then we’ll be in a position to do something about it. Okay?”

\---

Weiss was in a bad mood as she walked down the hallway to her apartment, and it only became worse when she reached the door and heard her least favourite voice coming faintly from the room beyond.

“Aww, you’re such a dumb little slut.”

Her fist clenched as she slipped her key in the lock and turned it. How dare she talk to Ruby like that? It only clenched tighter when she heard Ruby respond with an airy giggle.

“That tickles, Cinder!”

Why was she just letting Cinder walk all over her? Call her those things? Weiss entered the apartment, taking care not to make too much noise as she stepped into the living room. There on the couch, a couple of empty takeaway containers discarded on the coffee table in front of them, lay Ruby and Cinder. Giggles continued to spill out of Ruby as Cinder’s face buried itself in the crook of her neck, doing something that Weiss didn’t care to discover. Thankfully the two were fully clothed, though for how long that would stay the case she couldn’t say. After a few moments of watching with a disapproving look on her face, waiting to be noticed, Weiss decided to speed things up by clearing her throat.

Ruby idly lolled her head over to look at the source of the noise, eyes widening considerably when she saw Weiss. “Gah! Ah! Uhm… Si-Silver!” She stammered, Weiss raising an eyebrow at the seemingly meaningless string of noises. Cinder seemed to get the message at least, pulling back off of Ruby and following the line of her gaze over to Weiss. The older woman seemed surprised for an instant, but quickly managed to pull her expression into something resembling smug. God, what a bitch.

“I’d thank you two to keep that somewhere where I don’t have to see it. Also, not to defile our furniture. People have to sit on that couch.”

“Sorry Weiss,” Ruby spoke sheepishly, sitting up and smiling at her roommate, “We thought you’d be out for a while longer. How was dinner?”

“It was good. A shame you were too tired to attend.”

“Ah… yeah, sorry about that.”

“Sure you are. I’m going to shower. Don’t leave a mess out.” With that, Weiss stalked off to her room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, she pinched the bridge of her nose harshly. Seeing the two of them like that just made her so angry, and she didn’t even know what she could do about it. Why was Ruby so blind to just how… wrong it all was? She quickly retrieved some clean clothes to sleep in, and then walked back out across the no-man’s land of the living room to the safety of the shower, doing her best not to pay attention to whatever Ruby and Cinder were doing as she walked by.

Showering at least brought some relaxation, short lived though it was. She dried her body quickly, but then paused as she retrieved the hair dryer when the sounds of quiet conversation started to drift through the door.

“Let’s go back to bed, Ruby, I wanna cuddle.”

“You go on ahead, I’ll be there in a minute. I just wanna talk to Weiss quickly when she gets out.”

“Hmm…” A dramatic sigh filled the air. “I guess I can allow it.” 

Weiss strained her ears and caught the sound of footsteps crossing the room, followed by a door opening and closing. That now familiar feeling of anger bubbled up inside her. Cinder would allow it, would she? As if Ruby needed her permission to talk to Weiss. Disgusting.

She quickly plugged the hair dryer in and set about getting the worst of the wetness dealt with, then dressed herself and set out to find out what it was Ruby wanted.

“Oh, hey Weiss!” Ruby called out from the kitchen with a smile as she exited the bathroom.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to quickly say sorry again for… well, y’know. What we were doing when you got back. We got a little caught up in the moment, won’t happen again!”

“Is that it?”

“I…” Ruby paused slightly, her expression turning troubled. “Is everything okay, Weiss? You seem pretty upset.”

“Oh, I wonder what possible reason there could be? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you continue to let that woman drag you away from your friends.”

“Weiss… I thought we talked about this. Cinder isn’t trying to force me away from any of you.”

“Well it sure seems that way.”

“I was the one who asked her if we could leave early, not the other way around. And it’s not like I was leaving you all alone, everyone else was still there. I just wanted to spend some time together with her, why is that such a problem?”

“Oh, so she’s just better than the rest of us? Is that it?”

“It’s not like that, it’s just I…” Ruby looked over toward her bedroom door for a few moments, then back to Weiss, continuing with a softer tone. “I like her a lot, Weiss. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this strongly about someone before. You’re one of my best friends, that isn’t changing, I just wish you could feel happy for me instead of making this into a problem.”

Weiss was taken aback momentarily. She hadn’t expected such a frank confession, nor had she expected how much it would hurt to hear. “I… I don’t see why I should be happy about watching you get yourself hurt by someone who clearly doesn’t actually care about you.”

Ruby stared at her sadly, before letting out a dejected sigh. “Alright. Goodnight, Weiss.”

Weiss watched as Ruby retreated to her bedroom, fleeing into the waiting embrace of Cinder. She sucked in a shaky breath, and tried to ignore the pain in her chest.


	6. Indulging Beautiful Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinder continues to struggle with the way she's starting to feel toward Ruby, has a phone conversation with her, then goes out for a drink

Cinder dropped down into her favourite armchair as soon as she got back to her apartment, pulling a cushion into a tight hug and sighing happily as she remembered the previous night. Ruby kissing her out in public, Ruby trusting her enough to be cuffed, Ruby curling up against her as they ate dinner together, Ruby holding her tightly as they both drifted off to sleep. Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Even the morning had been nice, the way the girl pouted so cutely as Cinder got up to leave was still lodged firmly in her mind. She wished she could’ve stayed there all day, and honestly might have if she didn’t already have a practice session with her little band already scheduled for that day. Everything just felt so easy when she was with Ruby.

And, predictably, once they were apart things started to feel a lot harder. She let out a markedly more dejected sigh as her expression fell. Last night had been perfect in so many ways, and yet she couldn’t stop herself from feeling troubled. Was it fair of her to spend time with Ruby, to sleep with her, when what they wanted out of this was so completely different? And Cinder was certain that it was different, as heartwarming as the idea that Ruby enjoyed the time they spent together was, it didn’t mean the girl wanted them to be anything beyond the weird sorta-friends with benefits status they had now. Ruby was so great, a shining beacon of goodness, and Cinder was… not. Cinder was a blackened lump of trauma and mental health issues. Someone like Ruby would never love someone like her.

Her eye widened dramatically as she processed what she’d just thought. Not that Cinder wanted Ruby to love her. Because Cinder definitely didn’t have any feelings of that sort toward Ruby. She’d been over this numerous times, she only wanted Ruby sexually, she absolutely did not have any sort of romantic feelings toward the girl. She couldn’t. Because she was right, Ruby would never love her back.

A tap on her shoulder startled her out of that train of thought, and when she turned to look Neo greeted her with a wave.

“Nice to see you back, did everything go good? I’m guessing that since you didn’t spend the night here it must’ve been pretty alright.” Neo paused slightly, finally taking in Cinder’s almost panicked looking demeanour. “Hey, is everything okay? Did someone mess with you? ‘Cause I can go beat them up if you want.”

“I…” Cinder drew in a shaky breath. “No- I mean, yes… I mean, yes, everything’s okay, no you don’t need to beat anyone up.”

“Alright.” Neo crouched down beside her, concern evident on her face. “Have you been remembering to take all your medications?”

“I have. Like I said, I’m fine. I just,” She pushed herself up and grabbed her purse off the floor, “I just need a smoke.”

She didn’t bother watching for Neo’s response, instead stepping past her and walking across the room and out onto their apartment’s shitty little balcony. She fumbled around, eventually locating the half crushed packet of cigarettes and scuffed up zippo that still lived in the bottom of her purse, and then went through the ordeal of lighting one for herself with only a single shaky hand to work with.

It had been quite a few months now since she’d last smoked, and if she were being honest it was a lot worse than she remembered. It did the trick though, the shakiness gradually leaving her body as she stood out there, watching the cars roll by on the street below. She didn’t love Ruby. Obviously. It had just been a slip of the tongue. But like, in her mind. Slip of the mind.

Minutes dragged by like hours as she tried to get herself into order. She felt pathetic. Letting herself get so broken up over someone that she’d never even liked. She dropped what remained of her smoke over the edge of the balcony, watching with idle fascination as it fell down to the pavement below. The worst part was, even if she didn’t love Ruby, it didn’t stop any of her many other concerns from dancing about her head.

When she’d finally had enough, she turned back into the apartment and realised that Neo had been watching her as she stood out there, that same look of concern still etched on her face.

“I’m sorry. I know I said I’d quit, it’s just-”

Neo cut her off by stepping in closer and pulling her into a short, soft hug. “It’s fine,” She signed as they broke apart, “You don’t need to explain it if you don’t want to. But, I’m always here if you need someone to talk to.”

“Thanks, Neo. You’re a good friend. Probably better than I deserve.” Cinder smiled as warmly as she could manage. “I’ve just got some stuff I need to work out.”

\---

The strategy Cinder ended up coming up with to deal with her problems was to avoid thinking about them at all costs, which to be fair worked pretty well for the next week-and-a-half (a period of time which also accounted for three more nights spent together with Ruby). This particular day found her sitting once more in her favourite armchair, passing the time by idly scrolling through an online sex-toy store. Occasionally she’d see something she liked, and spend the next few moments with her eye shut, imagining herself getting to use it on Ruby. Ahhh, she’d look so adorable with one of those inside her. After those few moments passed by she’d glance at the price tag, sigh mournfully, and move on.

“Neooooooooooo,” She called out after seeing a very nice looking strapon that sat very firmly outside her price range. Over in the kitchen Neo looked up quizzically, craning her neck to look at Cinder. “Why is being gay so expensive?” She finished sadly.

Neo laughed silently, shrugged, then turned back to whatever it was she was making. Cinder looked back to her phone. “Maybe next time…” She murmured, solemnly scrolling away. She continued on in this fashion for a while longer, still not having any luck finding something that she both liked and had the money for, until her phone dinged with the alert of a new message from Ruby.

_heyyyyyyy_  
_thinkin bout u :P_

A couple of seconds later came a follow-up image. Cinder clicked onto the message with a smile, expecting it to be some random meme (Ruby had been making a habit of sending her those lately). Instead she was greeted by a close-up of Ruby’s fore and middle fingers, spread out in a v-shape. They each glistened with the unmistakable slick of arousal, a thin strand of it even hanging between them, connecting the two fingers together. As Cinder stared blankly at the screen, she received another image. This one was a selfie showing a completely nude Ruby laying back in bed, blushing furiously up at the camera as she threw up a peace sign with those same arousal coated fingers. Cinder could feel a matching blush starting to spread across her own face, and made the wise decision to retreat into the privacy of her room before Neo noticed something.

_ooh lost for words i see uwu_

Cinder shut the door behind her, smiling down at the message that she received as she did. Ruby wasn’t exactly wrong, she looked so beautiful Cinder could just stare at the pictures for hours. Nonetheless, she had an image to maintain.

_And I see that you’ve gone ahead and enjoyed yourself without me._

_sdfjds well idk if id say that i enjoyed myself_  
_more like currently enjoying ;P_

She bit down on her lip as she settled down into her bed, getting comfortable. Now that was an exciting thought. Right this very second, Ruby was alone in her room, touching herself to thoughts of Cinder. That meant that she might be able to get involved, if Ruby was willing.

_Oh? In that case, maybe you’d like a little bit of guidance while you play?_

Cinder waited patiently for a response, excitement slowly building inside her. Ruby didn’t even bother to text back, instead opting to call.

Cinder practically purred into the phone as she answered. “Hello there, Ruby.”

“Cinder…” Ruby’s voice was low and breathy. “I-I’m so horny. Please, help me get off.”

“Always so excitable, aren’t you? Start touching yourself for me. I want to hear you sing.”

Ruby took in a sharp breath at the command. “Yes ma’am.”

Cinder smiled to herself as the sound of Ruby panting and moaning away filled her ears. She could practically see the younger woman desperately fucking herself, an image that made her face heat up considerably. “Not so fast, pet. Take it nice and slow.” As she spoke, Cinder wedged her phone between her left shoulder and her ear, leaving her hand now free to slip beneath her shirt and start massaging her breast.

An almost pained whine escaped from Ruby as she nonetheless complied with Cinder, her moans becoming long and low as opposed to the frantic excitement of before.

“That’s it, such a good girl,” Cinder sighed softly as she continued to toy with her chest, “You don’t want to finish before I’ve had my fill, do you?”

“N-No, ma’am…”

“Of course not. Tell me, you said you were thinking about me when you started to touch yourself, right? What were you imagining me doing to you?”

“I-I um… it’s-” a short gasp took Ruby’s breath away momentarily. “It’s a little… embarrassing.”

“Aww, my poor little pet. You know that you don’t need to be embarrassed around me, I already know all about what a dirty little slut you are.”

“Well… I was bent over your knee, a-and all bound up so I couldn’t move.” Ruby interrupted herself with a string of throaty moans.

Cinder let her eye drift shut as she listened. Ruby would look incredible all tied up like that. “And then?”

“A-And then… you fuck me, so hard and rough. M-Make… Make me cum over and over. Till I’m begging you...”

“To stop?”

“To keep going.”

This time it’s Cinder who moans, tweaking her nipple hard as she pictures Ruby’s fantasy. “You’re so… so precious Ruby. Go a little faster for me.”

Ruby’s moans increased in intensity as she began to finger herself harder. “I-I… I feel so close.” She gasped out, voice equal parts desperation and excitement.

“It’s so cute,” Cinder murmured dreamily, “How you just want to be my helpless little toy. Totally at my mercy. All mine.” Her heart hammered away in her chest, bursting with feelings that she was doing her best to ignore. “I’d make you feel so good, wouldn’t I? Go faster.”

“Pl-Please… c-can I cum, ma’am?”

She hummed happily. “Such a good girl, asking for permission. I could never deny you when you’re like this. Cum for me.”

Ruby whimpered happily, and then only moments later the line was filled with the sweet sounds of her orgasm. Cinder listened carefully to the sounds of her shaky breaths, of her body writhing about, of the occasional sharp whine. All of a sudden the loud sound of clattering sounded out, and with a smile Cinder realised that the younger girl must’ve accidentally let go of her phone in the throes of passion.

The sound from there on was significantly more muffled, though Cinder was able to hear her own name being gasped out multiple times. She continued to play with her chest as she listened, doing her best to burn off some of the pressure and heat that listening to Ruby was planting inside her. Eventually Ruby’s noises faded out entirely, leaving Cinder alone to occupy herself until eventually she heard the sound of the phone being retrieved.

“S-Sorry, guess I dropped it.” Ruby said with a shaky laugh.

“It’s okay. Sounded like you enjoyed yourself.”

“I really did. Um… thanks. I’ve never actually done something like that before. It was exciting.”

“I’m glad,” A fond smile bloomed on Cinder’s face as she spoke, “Remember to look after yourself, since I’m not there. Keep hydrated, maybe get a snack, and don’t push yourself till you’ve rested a little.”

“You’re so sweet, Cinder.”

A blush broke out on her face. “I am not sweet! I’m a stone-cold bitch, thank you very much.”

Ruby giggled. “Of course you are. Hey, maybe this is a bit of a funny time to ask, but I’d really like to see you. Do you wanna meet up a little later for like, some afternoon coffee maybe?”

“Well, I don’t have anything else planned. Did you have anywhere in particular in mind?”

“Yeah, there’s this really nice little cafe where a few friends of mine work. It’s actually pretty close to your place, I’ll text you all the details.”

“Sounds good. I… guess I’ll see you later, then.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it!”

With a click, the line went dead. Cinder lay in silence, staring up at the ceiling and smiling softly at the thought of getting to see Ruby later. After about a minute her phone buzzed and she looked down, expecting to see the details that Ruby had promised. Instead she saw another selfie, this one of Ruby clearly post-orgasm. She was gazing sleepily up at the camera, body covered in sweat, with her soiled fingers buried inside her mouth as she cleaned them off.

_thought u might wanna see this ;))))_

Another smile lit up her face. She certainly did. As she gazed at it, admiring the soft beauty of Ruby’s body, her hand slowly drifted down to the waistband of her pants. They wouldn’t be meeting up for a while, she was sure that she had plenty of time to take care of a little business before she’d have to worry about starting to get ready.

\---

Cinder stared in what could only be described as horror as Ruby poured a sixth sachet of sugar into her coffee. It was kind of like watching a car crash in slow motion, a constant reminder of her own mortality that she for some reason couldn’t bring herself to look away from. She barely managed to stop herself from screaming in relief when Ruby didn’t reach for a seventh, instead picking up her teaspoon and beginning to stir the drink around.

“Are you… are you going to be able to drink that?”

Ruby looked up at her, tilting her head quizzically. “This is how I always take my coffee.”

“Ah.” Well, that might explain a lot.

“Oh, did you want any?” Ruby slid the container of sugar sachets across the little table the pair was sharing.

“No, I don’t really like sweet things.” She paused for a beat, then finished with a wink. “Present company excluded, of course.”

Ruby snorted loudly. “You can be such a dork sometimes.”

“Hmph. Personally I thought it was quite dashing.”

“If you say so. Hey, by the way, what do you think of this place? Nice, huh?”

Cinder took a sip of her black coffee, taking the opportunity to glance around the cafe. It really was quite nice, all rustic decor with soft relaxing music playing in the background. Also as a bonus, not many people were around, with only one other table in the place being used. “It’s cute. You said some friends of yours worked here, right? Anyone I know from the other week?”

“Oh, nah, none of them. The barista right now, Coco, she went to the same high school as me. She was a few years ahead, but she was like, the school’s alpha lesbian the whole time she was there so pretty much all the gay students knew her.”

“Ah.” Cinder had no idea how Ruby kept track of so many different friends. She barely managed to keep a handle on the like, three, that she had. Maybe four if she started counting Ruby.

“Oh! That reminds me, I was meaning to ask. That same group we went to the movies with is having another little get together in a couple of days. Just a chill kinda hang out at Yang and Blake’s place, get some pizza, play some games, y’know. And uh, I was wondering if you might wanna come?”

“Hm,” She took another sip of her coffee, “Would you like me to?”

“Well…” Ruby suddenly seemed quite bashful. “I would, but you don’t have to because of that. You already indulge me a ton, I mean, just look at what we’re doing right now.”

“It’s fine. I’ve always enjoyed indulging beautiful girls.”

“Geez, Cinder, no need to tease me.”

“You mean by calling you beautiful? Because that’s not teasing, just the truth.”

Ruby blushed furiously, taking a hearty swig out of her mug in an effort to obscure that fact. “You don’t need to say that. I mean, I know I’m…” she trailed off, looking down to avoid Cinder’s gaze.

“You… know you’re what?”

“Well,” She took another sip, still not meeting Cinder’s eye, “I guess I’m just kinda plain. I mean, next to Yang and Weiss and stuff. Did you know Weiss and Pyrrha have both done like, actual modelling? I don’t hate how I look or anything, but I know I’m nothing special.”

“Ruby,” Cinder reached out and rested her hand against Ruby’s cheek, gently guiding her back up into making eye contact, “Look at me. Are you being serious right now?”

“I… yeah.”

“Well, then you’re wrong. You’re absolutely beautiful, I thought that before we ever started sleeping together. You were just annoying enough that I didn’t care.” She softened a bit, letting her hand fall away from Ruby’s face. “I met those friends of yours, remember. The whole time, I never wanted to look at any of them. It was always you that had my eye. You’re so beautiful, Ruby.”

Ruby’s blush turned deeper as Cinder spoke. “Do you really think so?”

“I know so. Even an idiot could see it, and if you really find it so hard to believe I’ll just have to keep reminding you.” She spoke with finality, punctuating her statement by taking another slow sip of her coffee.

“Wow… I don’t think anyone has ever told me that before.” Ruby smiled shyly. “You’re really pretty too, Cinder.”

“If that’s true, that just shows the people you talk to don’t have any idea what they’re on about. Seriously, have a little more confidence, you look great. And obviously, I mean, look at me,” She dramatically ran her hand through her hair, “I’m gorgeous.”

Ruby giggled happily before gulping down another mouthful of her drink. It was clear that she was embarrassed, yet at the same time loving the compliments being heaped on her. Nice to know that her love of praise extended beyond the bedroom. “I wish I could be that confident.”

Cinder leant in closer, reaching her hand out to run through Ruby’s hair. “Well, if you’re ever doubting yourself just remember what I told you. You’re my pretty little rose, you shouldn’t be looking down on yourself.”

“Cinder…” Ruby turned her head into the touch, her blush deepening even further at the sudden pet-name.

“Ooh, careful,” Cinder moved closer, dropping her voice down low, “You look so good, good enough to eat. Keep looking at me like that and I might not be able to resist.”

“What if I want that?”

She smirked. “Then I’d tell you what a good girl you are, and that after you finish your drink we can head back to my place.”

\---

Ruby pushed the door to Cinder’s bedroom shut behind her, turning to face the older woman who was reclining back seductively on the bed, already stripped down to her underwear. Ruby’s gaze trailed across her body hungrily, excitement ratcheting up inside her even as Cinder began to speak.

“Feeling refreshed?”

“Yeah, thanks for waiting.” She carefully made her way forward, taking a seat on the side of the bed. “I grabbed the towels like you asked.”

“Good girl,” Cinder stretched out almost like a cat, then sat up, “You can leave those on the ground. Then, if you feel ready to start, I was thinking I might like to undress you myself today.”

Ruby shivered slightly at the thought. “Uhm, sorry, I just wanted to ask something before we get going.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“So… I know I’ve been uh, calling you ma’am most of the time when we do this. I was just wondering if maybe instead I could try… mistress?”

“Oh, Ruby,” Cinder draped herself against Ruby’s back, planting a soft kiss against her neck as she spoke, “I think that would make me very happy.” In many ways it did, yet at the same time it made Cinder feel a touch uneasy. Just another element of possessiveness that she knew was ultimately false, despite how much she wanted it to be otherwise. “Was that everything?”

“Mhm.”

“Then, are you ready to be a good girl for your mistress?”

Ruby sucked in a sharp breath, leaning back into Cinder. “Yes, mistress.”

“You must be so uncomfortable, all covered up like this.” Cinder trailed her hand down Ruby’s side. “Pets don’t need all this clothing, do they? Would you like me to help you with it?”

“Pl-Please, mistress, strip me”

“That’s my girl.” She hooked her fingers underneath the hem of Ruby’s top, slowly pulling it up and over the younger girl’s head. With that done, she unhooked Ruby’s bra, tossing it across the room dismissively as soon as it was free. “Isn’t that better,” She purred, her hand slipping round to cup Ruby’s now bare chest, “You love being all exposed for your mistress, don’t you?”

“Yes, I-I do, mistress. I love letting you see my body… love the way you look at me.” Ruby moaned when Cinder bit the side of her neck, shifting about anxiously as heat began to pool in her nethers.

“You have such a beautiful body, Ruby. My pretty little pet.” She sucked hard on the spot she’d bitten moments before, pulling back when she was satisfied to admire the hickey that was forming there. “I want to see all of it.” She let her hand drop away from Ruby’s chest, falling to grasp at her skirt instead.

Ruby was already breathless, gasping out her reply. “Please mistress, I want you to see how wet I am for you.”

The skirt came off easily, with panties following closely behind. “Oh, you’re so wonderfully excited.” Cinder crooned as her hand dipped between Ruby’s legs, feeling the arousal gathering there. “You must be so desperate for me to take care of you.”

Even that slight touch was enough to make Ruby whimper. “Please…”

Cinder pulled away, taking a moment to appreciate Ruby’s cute whining at the loss of contact, before patting the empty space at the head of the bed. “Lay down for me.” she ordered.

Ruby scrambled to comply, moving up the bed and then laying on her back while Cinder hovered over her. She squirmed slightly as that gorgeous golden eye roved hungrily across her body, then moaned throatily when Cinder returned her hand to its position between her legs.

“You really are such an excitable little slut, aren’t you?” Cinder murmured as her fingers spread Ruby’s folds apart. She dipped her head down to Ruby’s chest, flicking her tongue against the girl’s nipple while at the same time her fingers slowly pushed deep into her soft insides.

“I am.” Ruby moaned. Cinder was moving so slow, combined with the teasing from her mouth, it was almost painful. It made Ruby’s heart hammer in her chest, and her body shiver and shudder relentlessly. Eventually, those fingers pushed as far in as they could, and Ruby sighed dreamily at the feeling of being so completely filled up by Cinder.

Then, with that same painstaking slowness, Cinder began to draw her fingers back out, at the same time switching her mouth’s attention over to the other breast. Whimpers and mewling cries filled the room, clear evidence of Ruby’s frustration at the lack of speed, but Cinder had no intention of giving the girl what she so clearly wanted just yet.

Once Cinder’s fingers had fully exited Ruby’s insides, she began to trail them along the length of the girl’s slit, tracing her folds gently while taking special care to bypass the clit every time she drew near. At the same time she drew away from Ruby’s chest, watching with satisfaction as it heaved with desperation. When she turned her gaze up to Ruby’s face, she was greeted with the beautiful sight of the girl completely overtaken by need. Her cheeks were a dark red, eyes half-lidded with the barest hints of tears forming in their corners, and mouth lolling open vacantly as she sucked in shaky breaths.

“M-Mistress… please, don’t tease me.” Ruby panted out when their eyes met. Seeing the girl like this filled Cinder with such wonderful warmth. She was just so beautiful, it was honestly a crime that she seemed to have it stuck in her head that she wasn’t.

“I’m sorry, pet. It just takes so little to make you fall apart, it’s hard to resist.” Cinder leant in and pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. “But I think I know just what you’d need to do to convince me to fuck you properly. Would you like to know?”

“Please! I’ll do anything mistress wants.”

“Aww, that’s my dumb slut.” She applied just a hint more pressure as she continued to stroke Ruby’s cunt. “I want you to tell me just how pretty you are. Can you do that for me?”

Ruby’s jumbled up mind struggled to process just what it was Cinder was asking of her at first, the girl staring up at the older woman and blinking slowly. When she finally realised, her eyes widened a touch. “I uh… I don’t…”

“We both know what the answer is, don’t we? I just want you to admit it, and then I’ll give you everything you so desperately want.”

“Um… I’m… I’m pretty.” Ruby’s voice wavered, stuck between her insecurities and her undeniable desire.

“That’s right, you are,” Cinder allowed her fingers to brush gently up against Ruby’s clit, “Keep going.”

“Ah! I-I’m pretty! I’m pretty!” With every word spoken, Cinder gave Ruby just a little bit more of what she wanted, gently coaxing her into continuing. “I’m your pretty little pet!” Her back arched as Cinder began to rub circles around the clit. “I-I… I’m beautiful!”

“You are. You’re so beautiful, Ruby.” With that, Cinder pushed her fingers back inside Ruby, beginning to thrust with a steady rhythm as her thumb took over giving attention to the girl’s clit.

Ruby moaned loudly in sheer joy at finally being given what she so desperately craved. Her hips rolled smoothly into every thrust, letting Cinder plunge deeper and deeper inside her, even as her upper body squirmed about, completely losing herself in the sensation. Eventually she let her head roll back to meet Cinder’s burning gaze, desperately trying to form a coherent sentence amidst the haze of pleasure. “C-can we k-kiss?” She managed to stutter.

Cinder didn’t bother replying with words, instead simply capturing Ruby’s lips. Her tongue plunged into the girl’s loose mouth easily, and as she lashed it about she had the idle realisation that she was now inside Ruby in two distinct places at the same time. It was a wonderful feeling, every shock, moan, and shiver of the younger girl being transmitted straight into her body, but as she felt Ruby’s body going increasingly tense beneath her she realised it wouldn’t last long.

The orgasm crashed over Ruby like a tidal wave. Her body spasmed intensely, its insides clamping around Cinder even as she moaned aggressively straight into the older woman’s mouth. Meanwhile, her mind was a million miles away, floating on cloud nine as it drank in all the wonderful feelings. Gradually she slowed down, grew quieter, and then finally collapsed down to the bed, softly panting for breath.

Cinder was doing the same, taking the opportunity to recover a little from the intensity of that kiss. Once she’d collected herself, she took her sullied fingers and pushed them into Ruby’s waiting mouth, which reflexively closed around them and started sucking. She smiled as she watched it happen. Ruby’s love for this was definitely high on the list of her most adorable traits (And that was a very long list).

“Did my pretty girl enjoy herself?” Cinder murmured, slowly withdrawing her fingers now that they were sufficiently clean.

“Mmm,” Ruby hummed as she pressed herself into Cinder, burying her head in the older woman’s chest, “You’re always so good to me. And I think I really enjoyed calling you my mistress.”

“Right…” Cinder began to slowly stroke up and down Ruby’s back. “You don’t think it's… a little much?”

Ruby paused for a moment, then drew back so that the pair could make eye contact. “No? Well, not for me at least. Did it make you uncomfortable?”

“I…” Cinder looked away. “Yeah, a little.”

“Oh! I’m really sorry, I didn’t realise.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” She looked back, moving her hand up to gently run through the younger girl’s hair. “A big part of this is just figuring out what does and doesn’t work for us. And, it’s not that I hated it or anything, it’s just… I guess it feels a bit strange when we’re not actually in a relationship or anything.”

“Ah.” Ruby’s expression seemed to become downcast at that, but before Cinder could examine it too closely she was pressing closer again, resting her head against Cinder’s chest. “Yeah, you’re right, we’re not.”

“Yeah…” Cinder tried to ignore how much acknowledging that fact hurt. “Sorry for getting hung up on that, it might seem a little silly considering the other stuff we say to each other, but it is what it is I guess.”

“It’s fine.”

“Alright.” She pressed a soft kiss against the top of Ruby’s head. Usually, when they were together everything felt so easy. Cinder could lose herself in their shared warmth, in the feeling of Ruby’s body against her, in Ruby’s soft noises. And yet every time she reminded herself that this was all just pretend, just the two of them acting for lack of any better partners, and that she was ruining everything by catching feelings, it just hurt so bad. Every time Ruby called her mistress, she just couldn’t stop the little voice in her head reminding her of all those facts, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. She didn’t know why this in particular was such a sticking point, but it was, and it hurt.

“Hey,” Ruby’s soft voice snapped Cinder out of her spiralling thoughts, “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, actually.” She answered slowly, grateful for a distraction. “Would you like to order some takeout?”

“Sure. And maybe afterwards, we could try to have a little more fun? Something that’s more comfy for you?”

Cinder smiled softly, doing her best to shove all those negative thoughts away and just focus on the girl in front of her. “That sounds great, Ruby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who's taken the time to leave a comment on the previous chapters, reading them always really brightens my day!


	7. Glad You Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinder decides to talk about her feelings for Ruby with Neo, then goes out to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone's doing good! This is another slightly longer one, so strap in.

“Okay, so. Just brace yourself for this. I uh, I think… I think I might possibly have… feelings. Feelings for Ruby. As in, I might… like her.”

Cinder looked nervously to Neo, seated next to her on their couch. The girl’s reaction wasn’t exactly what Cinder had been expecting when they sat down together to talk about the problems that’d been plaguing her of late. No shock or awe, instead just blank confusion.

“Yeah?” She signed back slowly, “You’ve been going out with her for like, a month-and-a-half now? I think liking her would be pretty normal.”

“What? Going out? No I haven’t!” Cinder sputtered, a blush springing up unwillingly on her cheeks.

Neo stared for another few seconds. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure! I’ve told you, it’s just casual sex. No strings attached.”

“I mean, yes you did tell me that. But you keep doing things that seem a lot like dates. Y’know, going to the movies together, going out for coffee, and now tonight you’re going to hang out with her and her friends. That doesn’t really seem like casual sex, it seems more like you’re girlfriends.”

“Well…” Cinder’s mind raced. She supposed she could understand how from Neo’s perspective it might look that way, although obviously it wasn’t really like that. All that stuff was just… just because Ruby saw her as a friend now. Nothing deeper than that. “Well we aren’t. Trust me, it’s definitely not like that.”

“Alright, I believe you. So, talk me through it, why is this a problem? You’re already acting a lot like you’re dating even if you aren’t, why not just ask her, take the plunge?”

“Because, that’d ruin everything. Like I said, this was just meant to be casual, if she knows I might actually have feelings…” Cinder trailed off, her hand coming to rest against the stump that remained of her left forearm, fingers running gently against the scars. “She wouldn’t want anything to do with me if she knew,” She finished in a quiet voice.

“Why not?”

“I’m… I’m me. I’m not the kind of person she’d ever be interested in. She’s probably only doing all this with me because she’s so sure I don’t like her that way, and once she finds out she’ll… I don’t know, she’ll think it's gross.”

“Hey now,” Neo rested a comforting hand against Cinder’s shoulder, “You’re not gross Cinder. And why wouldn’t she want you? I mean, you’re really good-looking.”

Cinder sighed sadly. “You’re right, I am incredibly hot. But, don’t you think there’s more to a relationship than just that?”

“Like what, money?”

“No, I mean like… personality and stuff,” She drew her knees up to her chest, “I dunno, like, I think Ruby’s really beautiful, but that’s not the only reason I like her. She’s so nice and sweet. Did I tell you that the first night we slept together she was following after me because she was worried? I’d been nothing but an asshole to her for three years and she was still worried about me. Imagine that. And at the same time she’s got this hard side to her, whenever I’d give her hell she’d never hesitate to fire right back. Plus she’s super cute when she laughs, every time I hear her it gives me this warm tingly feeling in my chest and all I can think about is how much I wanna make her do it again. Also there’s the way she gets so passionate about stuff, like the other day she was telling me about the ideas she’d been working on for her masters proposal and I just found myself getting so swept up in her energy and excitement, it was wonderful. And speaking of that, she’s so smart-” Cinder stopped herself when she realised that she’d been rambling, taking a moment to clear her throat and wipe the grin that’d been building on her face as she spoke away. “Uhm, anyway. You get the idea.”

Neo smiled softly at her. “And just to be clear, you only think that you _might_ like her? You’re not sure?”

“I… Okay, I guess if I think about it a bit, it does seem… likely that I do.”

She shook with silent laughter. “Seriously, babe, I think you’re worrying about this way too much. I’ve seen you two hanging out plenty, and she always seems just as happy to be around you as you are to be around her. I mean, I’d bet she likes you too, and she’s feeling this same way, worrying that you’re not gonna reciprocate.”

“Doubt it,” Cinder murmured, leaning her head back to look at the ceiling, “She’s so… so great. Why would she want something like that with me? I’m nothing. Plus she’s got so many other options. I mean, none of them are as hot as me, but still, they’re probably good in other ways.” She stiffened momentarily when she felt Neo’s hand against her cheek, but allowed it to guide her gaze back down onto the gremlin.

“Hey, keep your eye on me otherwise I can’t tell you how wrong you are.” Neo seemed almost angry, but then softened quickly. “Cinder, I know how easy it is for you to get lost in these kinds of thoughts. I know how deeply _she_ drilled all of this into you. But you need to remember that nothing she told you, or made you say, was true. You’re not worthless, or gross, you’re not nothing. You might not be a goody-two-shoes like Ruby and her lot, but you’re still a wonderful person in your own way. There’s so much to love about you.”

“Neo, I,” Cinder could feel the tears starting to well up in her eye, and when Neo pulled her into a tight hug she accepted it easily, burying her face in her friend’s two-toned hair, “Thank you. For being here for me. It’s just… it’s scary.”

Neo pulled back, smiling gently at her. “Hey, you were here for me when Roman died, and then again when I was transitioning and didn’t have anyone else in my corner. Hell, you even learnt how to sign just to make things easier for me when we moved in together. Of course I’m gonna be here for you,” She reached out and wiped away the small trail of tears running down Cinder’s cheek, “And I know it’s scary, but luckily you don’t need to move too fast. You’re already spending a lot of time together, so start small. Try to find ways to show her that you care, beyond the little casual thing you’ve got going on. Show her that she makes you happy, and that you want to make her happy. Do you think that sounds doable?”

Cinder turned it over in her head for a few moments, then nodded slowly. “Thanks again for all of this Neo. I… don’t have many people I can be… be vulnerable with, it really means a lot.”

“Like I said, I’m here for you.” Neo stood with a flourish, then turned about and offered a hand to Cinder. “Now, why don’t we go figure out what you’re gonna wear tonight. We want to put on a good show for your future girlfriend, right?”

Cinder smiled, feeling lighter than she had for a while now, and accepted Neo’s hand.

\---

“You can’t wear those shorts.”

“What?” Cinder pulled the offending item of clothing defensively to her chest. “But I like these. Ruby likes them too! And this is what you told me to wear to the movies, why is this different?”

Neo yanked them out of Cinder’s grasp and tossed them away. “Because that was when I thought you were already dating and you just wanted to look sexy for her. Now I know that you’re still trying to romance her, you need something classier.”

“… Can I still wear the stockings at least?”

“Sure, those work.” She turned back to the closet, stroking her chin dramatically as she examined Cinder’s clothing options.

“Are you sure classy is the way to go? I mean, this is just a casual get together, not a fancy dinner.”

“Not _classy_ classy, just… classy. You get me?”

Cinder raised her eyebrow. “Not really.”

“Eh,” Neo shrugged, “You’ll get it once I finish picking everything out. Ooh, try this top on, I think it’ll go great with your eyepatch. And show me how far down this skirt goes on you, we wanna make sure we’re still showing off your legs.”

“I thought we weren’t trying to look sexy anymore?”

“A little sexy is okay, it’s just not the focus. Look, just stop asking questions and try the stupid clothes on.”

She grumbled and grimaced, but did as she was told, letting Neo ooh and ahh over various different outfits until they finally settled on one.

\---

Cinder stood awkwardly in front of a small house, double checking the details Ruby had sent her one last time. Once she was satisfied that she wasn’t about to embarrass herself horribly by turning up at the wrong time, or the wrong address, or somehow on the wrong date, she did her best to channel her usual icy demeanour, stepped forward, and knocked. A few agonising seconds dragged by before the door opened and she finally felt like she could exhale.

“Oh, g’day Cinder!” Ruby’s sister, Yang, greeted her enthusiastically.

“Hey, Ruby didn’t really tell me if I should bring anything or not so,” She hefted the six-pack she was carrying for emphasis, “I just grabbed some cider in case, hope that’s okay.”

“Sounds great, come on in.” Yang stepped aside, holding the door wide for Cinder and gesturing into the house. “You’re actually the first one here.”

Cinder did her best to order her emotions as she crossed the threshold. She felt almost giddy at the prospect of seeing Ruby now that she’d finally started to get a handle on her feelings, finally felt like she could start doing something about them even if it was going to be small. Predictably though she was also more than a little worried about all the many ways it could go wrong. She did her best to ignore that sensation, repeating Neo’s encouragement from earlier to herself.

“Kitchen’s just there on the right if you wanna chuck those in the fridge.”

Admirably, Cinder managed not to jump when Yang’s voice pulled her back into reality. “Sure thing.” She replied, ducking into the room indicated.

Turns out the kitchen was already slightly occupied, with Yang’s cat faunus girlfriend (Blake, Cinder reminded herself) putting the finishing touches on a small platter of snacks. She started slightly when she noticed Cinder, but transitioned smoothly into a small smile as she took off the pair of earbuds that she’d been wearing.

“Oh, Cinder, nice to see you. Sorry, I didn’t realise anyone was here yet. Can I get you anything?”

“No, just,” She once again hefted the six-pack, “Putting this away.”

“The fridge is just over there.” Blake pointed to the object in question before turning back to her snack platter, humming softly.

Cinder made short work of her task, sliding the beverages into one of the fridge’s unoccupied shelves, then stood awkwardly for a moment as she wondered where to go next. Luckily, Blake seemed to notice her confusion.

“Let me show you where the living room is.” She said as she walked past Cinder, carrying her platter.

Cinder followed dutifully behind as Blake led her into another room, where Yang seemed to be setting up a speaker. She sank gratefully down onto one of the couches, now she could just stay here and wait till Ruby showed up. Blake meanwhile set the platter down on the room’s small coffee table, then made her way over to Yang, giving the blonde a small kiss on the cheek when they were close.

“I’ve just got a few more things to take care of, make sure to listen out for the door.”

“Of course,” Yang responded to the kiss with a small one of her own, “Love ya.”

Cinder watched with a small smile, the slightest twinge of jealousy welling up inside her. Maybe one day she’d get to do something like that together with Ruby. As she tried not to fantasise too hard about that, Blake exited the room and Yang walked over to take a seat on the couch next to Cinder.

“Have you two been together long?” Cinder asked after a few moments of silence.

Yang answered with a laugh. “Oh yeah, feels like forever now.” She turned quiet for another few moments, before continuing. “Speaking of being together, I figure maybe now might be a good time to give you the whole ‘big-sister talk’ if that’s alright.”

“Uhm, yeah, sure.” Cinder was more than a little confused.

“Now, I’m not gonna try to tell Ruby who she can or can’t date. She’s an adult, and I think she’s a good enough judge of character to make decisions about this kind of stuff on her own. But,” Yang’s expression hardened, “If you hurt her, or break her heart, I’ll beat the shit out of you. Got it?”

Cinder blinked slowly. Did Yang think she and Ruby were dating too? Why did people keep assuming that? The actual threat wasn’t all that worrying, mostly because Cinder knew Neo would come to her defense, and while Yang looked tough Neo was an absolute terror in a fight. Cinder once watched her take down three people at once after they tried to tell her that pink wasn’t her colour. It was honestly a little concerning. Oh, right, Yang was waiting for an answer. “Got it. For what it’s worth, I’m not planning on hurting her,” Excluding in the bedroom when she wants me to, she added mentally, “and I’m definitely not going to be breaking her heart.” If anything, Cinder was going to be the one ending this heartbroken.

“Good answer!” Yang clapped her on the shoulder, cheerful demeanour returning instantly. “Sorry to get all serious on you like that. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but our friend Weiss isn’t exactly your biggest fan. Personally, I think you seem pretty alright, but better safe than sorry, y’know?”

“It’s fine, good to know that Ruby’s got people looking out for her.”

They passed another few minutes with idle conversation. Yang was surprisingly easy to talk to. Apparently she and Blake had been living together in this place for a couple of years now, it’d belonged to her uncle originally, but he started renting it to them on the cheap after he decided that he didn’t need all the space. Now he apparently lived with Yang and Ruby’s dad, sleeping in the room Yang had left behind after she moved out, which was a kind of switcheroo that amused Cinder greatly.

When the sound of knocking at the door sounded out, Cinder perked up with barely contained excitement. Yang snorted at that, then stood and made her way out of the room. Shortly after, she returned with Ruby and Weiss in tow. Ruby called out Cinder’s name as soon as their eyes met, immediately bounding over and wrapping her up in a tight hug, while Weiss just rolled her eyes and took a seat on the opposite side of the room.

“I’m so glad you came!” Ruby declared, releasing Cinder from the hug and then turning to address Yang. “Hey, you haven’t been telling her anything embarrassing about me before we got here, right?”

Yang shrugged noncommittally. “Who can really say for sure?”

Ruby pouted at that, but turned back to Cinder while Yang excused herself from the room to see if Blake needed more help. “Really, thanks a lot for coming along.”

“Well, you said that you wanted me to,” She hesitated for a moment, then went ‘fuck it’ and leaned closer to press a series of soft kisses on Ruby’s cheek, trailing up to whisper in her ear, “I like making you happy.”

“Geez Cinder,” Ruby blushed intensely, covering her cheeks in embarrassment when Cinder pulled back, “You’re always so smooth.” She spared a glance over at Weiss, who was staring down at her phone and trying her hardest to ignore the two of them, then in a fit of boldness sat herself down on Cinder’s lap, straddling the older woman’s thighs and pulling her into a proper kiss.

Wisely, considering where they were, both women decided to keep the kiss chaste, though that didn’t stop either of them from thoroughly enjoying it. Their eyes drifted shut, bodies pressed tightly together, hands settling on each other’s hips, as they revelled in the feeling of being together again. When they eventually pulled their lips apart, Cinder decided to be just a little cheeky, and moved back in to swipe her tongue against Ruby’s lips, getting a wonderful taste of the girl’s strawberry chapstick.

Ruby made a rather undignified noise at that, followed by an even more undignified noise when she heard the sound of people entering the room and had to quickly scramble off of Cinder. Yang entered, smirking at the two of them, followed closely behind by those other four people that had been at the movies that Cinder hadn’t managed to remember the names of, with Blake trailing just behind balancing a pair of additional snack trays in her hands.

Greetings were exchanged as everyone took seats around the room, and soon the air was filled with energetic conversation and the occasional bout of raucous laughter. Cinder did her best to follow, and offer polite responses when appropriate, but most of her attention was monopolised by the girl seated next to her. Ruby was positively radiant tonight, every peal of laughter seeming like a little gift from the heavens, and Cinder rapidly found her cool exterior melting away and being replaced by a warm smile.

After a few minutes Ruby looked up at her, a matching smile spread across her lips. “Wanna go get a drink?” Cinder gave a nod, and Ruby turned to the rest of the room. “Hey, we’re just gonna go grab a drink from the fridge, anyone else want anything?” After a chorus of polite refusals she rose to her feet, took Cinder’s hand in her own (Something that definitely did not make Cinder blush), and dragged her out of the room.

“You look really pretty,” Cinder remarked as they entered the kitchen, “I don’t think I’ve seen you in that dress before, is it new?”

Ruby beamed at the compliment, looking down briefly at the black and red summer dress in question. “Yeah, I just got it a few days ago. You… like it?”

“Of course,” Cinder leaned back against one of the benches, running her gaze across Ruby’s outfit, “Do a twirl for me.”

Ruby giggled, then spun around on the spot, ending by feigning dizziness and leaning up against Cinder for support. “I was actually thinking about you when I bought it. I wanted to look nice for you.”

That sent the older woman’s heart hammering. “You don’t need to try to do that, it comes naturally to you. The dress is definitely cute, though.” She caressed Ruby’s cheek briefly, then pulled her close for a brief peck on the lips.

Unsatisfied, Ruby chased after Cinder when she pulled away, catching her mouth again and coaxing her into a gentle rhythm as they pressed tightly together. Ruby’s hands trailed up and down the sides of Cinder’s body, earning appreciative hums that vibrated through their intertwined bodies.

“Missed you.” Ruby murmured against Cinder’s lips when they paused for air.

Cinder snorted at that. “We just slept together the night before last, no?”

“So?”

It was so matter of fact, she couldn’t stop a short laugh from bubbling up inside her. “Well… to tell you the truth, I missed you too.” Her body felt so wonderfully warm in that moment, full of light and song that crescendoed at Ruby’s every word.

Ruby moved in for another kiss, and this time Cinder decided to get her teeth involved, biting down on the girl’s lower lip. Ruby moaned beautifully, and soon Cinder was taking the opportunity to push her tongue roughly into the girl’s mouth, claiming it as she pleased. Happy groans filled the air as their tongues lashed against each other, Cinder’s dominance being firmly established as she took easy control of the situation, maneuvering Ruby about as she saw fit.

“We probably shouldn’t take too long, your friends will start to worry.” Cinder said when they next parted, regretting that she had to be the voice of reason.

“Ugh,” Ruby harrumphed, “You’re probably right.” Nonetheless she didn’t pull away from Cinder immediately, instead nuzzling down into her neck and enjoying the scent of the older woman’s perfume.

“Good girl,” Cinder began gently carding her fingers through Ruby’s hair, “Did you actually want to get a drink, or was that just an excuse to get me on my own?”

“Might as well while we’re here.”

“I brought some cans of cider with me, they’re just in the fridge, does that sound good?”

“Sure.”

Silence descended for a few moments. “You know, I can’t get them if you don’t get off me.”

“I know,” Ruby nuzzled deeper into the crook of Cinder’s neck, “It’s just nice here.”

Cinder smiled softly. She understood what Ruby meant, the soft embrace they were currently locked in felt simply magical, especially with the taste of Ruby still fresh in her mouth, and she was left wishing it didn’t need to end. “Alright, I’m sure it won’t be a problem if we just take a little longer.”

\---

Luckily, it wasn’t, with no-one bothering to comment on the amount of time it took the two of them to get to the kitchen and back. A few hours had gone by since then, with the night proceeding more or less predictably. Pizza had been ordered, and then consumed rapidly. Ruby and Cinder managed to completely destroy Blake and Yang in a round of beer pong, admittedly mostly Ruby since the girl had a startling level of accuracy even while slightly intoxicated (and Cinder didn’t exactly have the depth perception necessary to excel at these kinds of games). Those other four people had gotten involved in some complicated looking card game that Cinder was completely unable to follow, but hey they looked like they were having a good time so more power to them. Weiss, meanwhile, had graduated from shooting death glares at Cinder to instead just pointedly ignoring her, which felt like at least something of an improvement.

With all that being said, Cinder had to be a whole lot drunker than she thought she was, because when Ruby grabbed hold of her hand, said “Dance with me, Cinder,” and pulled her to her feet, she let it happen. Now the two of them were swaying energetically to some song that Cinder had never heard, Ruby giggling happily, her hands resting on Cinder’s hips gently coaxing her along.

Cinder couldn’t help the smile that broke out on her face. She’d never been much of a dancer, but Ruby just seemed so happy that it was contagious. The rest of the room practically seemed to melt away until all that was left of the world was the girl in front of her, and the upbeat music in her ears.

Ruby was so, so beautiful. It was something she’d thought plenty of times before, and it was just as true now as ever. She told the girl again, enjoying the matching flush that lit up both of their cheeks, enjoying the way they drew closer in time with beat, enjoying the feeling of Ruby’s hands sliding up her body to settle on her shoulders. She slipped her hand around Ruby’s back, holding her tightly as the song gradually came to an end.

There were a few moments of silence as the speaker switched over to the next track, and during that time Cinder let Ruby pull her into a short, chaste kiss. Even when the kiss ended they were still so close together, noses practically touching, eyes locked in an intense stare. Cinder was left with an undeniable urge to kiss her again, harder, to go to the inevitable conclusion of those actions that she could easily see that they both wanted. She was, however, dragged back into the present moment when Yang let out a wolf-whistle, reminding the pair that they were still in a room full of people.

“Hell yeah Rubes! Get it gi- Ow! Blake!”

“Don’t tease them.” The faunus admonished, preparing herself to poke Yang again if she continued.

Cinder and Ruby both looked over at them sheepishly, then back at each other. After a couple of seconds they both laughed good naturedly and Ruby pulled away, grabbing onto Cinder’s hand again. “We’ll be back in a minute!” She called out as they exited the room together.

\---

Ruby’s back hit the wall of the bathroom with an audible thud. Soft gasps and yelps spilled out of her as Cinder pressed a string of sloppy kisses against the side of her neck, each one pulling her just a little further undone. “Remember,” the older woman whispered, “If we’re going to do this, you need to keep quiet. Can you do that for me?”

“I can, ma’am, I-I promise.”

Cinder smiled, letting her hand slip underneath Ruby’s dress and trail up the inside of her thigh. “You’ve been such a naughty girl though. Getting all worked up in front of your friends like that, you just can’t help being a dirty little slut, can you?”

“Only around you.”

Her smile grew wider, and by way of an answer she brushed her hand up against Ruby’s panties, feeling the small wet patch that was starting to grow on them.

“Fuck, Cinder!” Ruby yelped out, the slight touch sending a jolt of electricity coursing through her body.

Cinder just clucked her tongue in faux admonishment. “What did I just tell you, Ruby? You need to keep quiet or everyone will hear. Understand?”

Ruby went to speak again, but was cut off when Cinder pressed up against her nethers again. She slammed a hand over her mouth just in time to prevent any more loud noises from escaping, and settled for a strained nod as a response.

“That’s my girl. You want to be good for me so badly, don’t you?” She hooked her fingers under the waistband of Ruby’s panties, pulling them a short way down. “It’s okay, I know exactly what you need.” her fingers dragged back up Ruby’s thigh, finding their way to the younger woman’s clit and rubbing against it with a slow circling motion.

Ruby muffled the noises that bubbled up inside her as best she was able, biting them down and bringing up her other hand to further obscure the ones she just couldn’t stop. Luckily, that seemed to be enough for Cinder, who gradually increased the speed of her ministrations, giving Ruby just enough time to adjust to each new level of sensation before she increased it again.

“So obedient, aren’t you? I think I like you like this, maybe I should invest in a gag? What do you think, would my pretty little pet enjoy that?” A muffled moan leaked out between Ruby’s fingers as she nodded weakly. “Oh, she would! How cute.” Cinder bit down on her lip as she briefly imagined that scenario. It’d certainly be hot, but on the other hand she did enjoy the sound of Ruby’s voice. Something to think on later. She focused back in on the girl slowly drawing closer and closer to the edge in front of her.

Ruby’s body was delightfully hot, burning with that deep, animalistic heat as she melted against Cinder. It was quite a sight, her eyes blown wide with need, hands clamped firmly across her mouth, tension building oh so clearly within her. It was enough to make Cinder let out a throaty purr.

“You’re such a beautiful girl, Ruby. Is it wrong that I want to ruin you so badly?” Ruby’s eyes screwed shut, body rapidly going rigid. “That whenever I see you, I just want to tear your clothes off, take you over and over again, make you scream and cry and ruin all that makeup you must’ve worked so hard on?” She was so close now, balancing right on the edge, only needing the slightest push to tumble over. “Is it wrong that you make me want to do things like this?” Cinder pulled her hand away from Ruby’s crotch, just before the girl got the release she craved.

Ruby’s eyes shot back open, staring searchingly at Cinder as she struggled to process what was happening. A strained whine tumbled out of her, as her hips jerked forward incessantly, trying to find a hand that simply wasn’t there. She let her hands drop away from her face. “I… Cinder, what…”

“You’ve been such a naughty girl tonight, Ruby. Making noise over and over even though I told you to keep quiet. I’m not sure if you deserve to cum.”

“I-I, Cinder,” What seemed like panic started to seep into her eyes, “Please, please, I need it so bad.”

Cinder crooned in delight. “Aww, I know you do, Ruby. But what have you been tonight?”

“I’ve… been naughty. But please, I’ll do anything, just-”

“And what happens to naughty girls?”

“They… they get punished.” Ruby’s voice transitioned into a strained whimper, clearly beginning to resign herself to her fate.

“Exactly. So, we’re going to go back out there, and you’re just going to have to deal with this,” She trailed her finger against Ruby’s slit, careful not to put any real pressure on it, “Until later, when I decide that you’ve earned it. Understand?”

“Yes ma’am. I promise, I’ll be good.”

Cinder hummed appreciatively, then helped Ruby off the wall, giving her some support as she regained her balance. From there, they took a short while to clean up, straightening out their clothes and wiping away excess fluids as best as possible. Once they were as presentable as they were gonna get, Cinder gently wrapped Ruby up in a hug. “All ready?”

“Yeah.” Ruby was still panting gently with the need burning between her legs, but thankfully not in a way that would be obvious to anyone who didn’t already know the reason. “Let’s not get too cuddly here though, I might not want to leave again,” She finished with a breathy giggle.

\---

By the time they returned to the others, it’d apparently been decided to put a movie on. Cinder and Ruby curled up together at the back of the room, a blanket pulled up around them snugly. Neither paid particularly close attention to the movie in question, with Ruby focusing instead on the sensation of Cinder’s hand ghosting all across her body, and Cinder occupied by her mission to not allow Ruby to cool down too much before their next opportunity to play.

Eventually, the movie came to an end, lights were switched back on, and the room was filled with light conversation, recognitions of the late hour, and cheerful goodbyes. As that blonde guy, who Cinder was pretty sure she was starting to remember was named Jean, waved goodbye to everyone and herded his little group of four out of the room, she turned to Ruby. “Want to go to my place, or yours?”

“Mmm, think I’d prefer yours if that’s okay.” Ruby pushed the blanket off of them, rising to her feet and stretching idly.

Before Cinder could do the same, Weiss approached them, a set of car keys pinched between her dainty fingers. “Ruby, I’m going back. Are you coming?” Ah, dang, she had a car. Cinder didn’t have a car. Getting the bus everywhere sucked.

“I actually think I might spend the night at Cinder’s place, sorry.”

“Hmph. Fine.” Weiss spun on her heel, but only took a half step away before pausing, sighing, and turning back to them. “Do you two need a lift?”

“Oh, that sounds great!” Ruby glanced down at Cinder. “Unless you had something already worked out?”

“No, I was just going to get an uber.”

“Then yeah, that’d be really helpful, thanks a lot Weiss!”

“Right. Well, let’s go.”

Cinder pushed herself up, following closely behind Ruby and Weiss as they made their way outside. Weiss’s car was expensive looking, not that Cinder knew much about expensive cars, but it was all sleek and shiny with a fancy leather interior, so probably. Ruby hopped up into the front, shooting a warm smile at Cinder as she sat herself down in the back. The drive was more than a little awkward, with a curt question as to what Cinder’s address was being pretty much the only words spoken by Weiss the whole way.

Cinder was a touch confused, on the one hand this seemed like a bit of an olive branch being extended, while on the other Weiss was very clearly still supremely pissed. When they pulled up at their destination, Ruby gave a somewhat forced cheerful goodbye to Weiss, jumping out of the car while Cinder hesitated momentarily. If this was an olive branch, maybe she should say something? What was the usual etiquette for these sorts of situations?

“Hey, uh, thanks.” She paused, scrambling for something to say. “Do you need petrol money, or-”

“No.” Weiss glared at her through the rear-view mirror. “Can you get out of my car already?”

Alright, asked and answered. She took her leave, joining Ruby on the footpath as Weiss drove away. “You know, sometimes I get the strange feeling that she doesn’t like me.” She joked, starting toward the door of the apartment complex.

Behind her, Ruby sighed dejectedly. “Yeah.”

\---

Ruby, already stripped naked, lay back on Cinder’s bed, staring hungrily up at the older woman as she undressed herself with painful slowness. She bit down hard on her lip, doing her best to ignore the dull throbbing that’d been present between her legs ever since their time in the bathroom. Cinder was just so hot, so perfect, the way she little by little exposed more and more of herself was setting Ruby’s insides on fire. Her hand, almost with a mind of its own, slipped between her legs aiming to provide some relief, only to pause when Cinder clucked her tongue.

“No need to be so hasty, Ruby,” She admonished, “Tell me, did you bring your cuffs?”

“Yeah, they’re in my bag.”

Cinder paused in her stripping, walking over to where Ruby had left her things and then bending down seductively to search for the item in question. Ruby could only stare in excitement as Cinder retrieved the cuffs and made her way over to the bed. “Hands up above your head, cutie.” Cinder’s whispered command was enough to make the younger woman comply instantly. Methodically, Cinder looped the cuffs around one of the posts that made up the bed’s headboard, then used them to firmly secure Ruby’s wrists, leaving her more or less completely unable to move her arms. “All good?” Cinder asked, gently caressing the bound girl’s cheek.

Ruby nuzzled into the touch. “It’s perfect. I’m all ready to start.”

“Hmm,” Cinder moved her hand away to instead idly toy with the last few of her top’s buttons that had yet to be undone, “But am I ready? Maybe I’d rather just watch you squirm?”

“You’ve already kept me waiting so long!” Ruby pouted, spreading her legs for emphasis.

“I know, I know,” Cinder responded with a laugh, rapidly undoing those final buttons and shrugging the shirt off, letting it fall beside the bed, “It won’t be much longer.” The rest of her clothes followed rapidly after, and soon Ruby was gazing upon Cinder’s completely nude body.

“Please…” The girl murmured, she could feel her body growing hotter and hotter, feel her wetness starting to leak out of her snatch, feel herself throbbing in anticipation.

“Oh, Ruby, you sound positively filthy. Tell me exactly what it is you want.”

“I…” Ruby swallowed down a lump in her throat, “I want you. I wanna be taken by you, I… I want you to make me cum.”

Cinder hummed happily, taking Ruby’s chin between her thumb and forefinger as she leaned in to give the girl a tender kiss. “If that’s what my pretty little pet wants, then of course.”

Cinder’s fingers ghosted across Ruby’s pussy, moisture clinging to the tips where they made contact with those pretty pink lips. “So perfectly wet for me already.” She kissed Ruby again, then shifted down the bed, slotting her head in between Ruby’s thighs. It only took one firm lick for Ruby to let out the filthiest moan Cinder had ever heard, clearly being denied earlier had really amped her up. Cinder didn’t waste any more time, plunging straight into Ruby’s depths, tongue lashing about roughly as it explored her insides.

Ruby was almost instantly consumed by that wonderfully white hot feeling of being taken. Her body jerked and squirmed about in joy, hands straining helplessly against the cuffs, a constant reminder of the way she was bound. Right now she wasn’t an equal, she reminded herself, she was just Cinder’s plaything. The thought made her keen with delight, a sound that soon intensified when she received the gift of fingers rubbing up against her clit.

Cinder gazed pridefully up at Ruby, not letting up on her assault for a second. Ruby, beautiful, smart, funny, cheerful Ruby, came apart so easily for her. She pushed her tongue in deep as it would go yet again, letting her taste buds be overtaken by the sweetness of Ruby’s arousal. The girl’s body jolted in response, almost like an electric current had zapped straight through it, a sharp gasp accompanying the motion. Cinder pushed her tongue around roughly, briefly brushing against Ruby’s g-spot but being careful not to spend too much time on it, eager not to move things to their conclusion too soon.

“Fuck, fuck, Cinder!” Desperation was thick in Ruby’s voice, her cute little breasts heaving intensely. Being a pet was so incredible, she didn’t need to think, didn’t need to worry, just needed to be good, to feel good. And she certainly did feel good, Cinder’s every motion filled her with such incredible pleasure, sent a haze of lust bursting through her mind, made her feel so filthy. “I-I’m so close, please, please…”

“Cum for me, Ruby. You’re being so good, just cum.” Cinder returned her mouth to Ruby’s cunt as soon as she finished speaking, moaning when her mouth was once again filled with Ruby’s taste.

Ruby broke immediately upon Cinder’s tongue hitting her g-spot again, the denial from earlier only seeming to intensify this climax as she spasmed and strained against her cuffs. She ground herself relentlessly against Cinder’s face, who accepted it eagerly, continuing to lap and finger Ruby’s pretty cunt throughout the orgasm.

When she’d slowed enough, Cinder pulled back from Ruby, moving up the bed to be level with the girl. She pressed soft kisses against Ruby’s forehead, all the while keeping her hand down between those cute legs, softly thrusting her fingers into Ruby as she continued to weakly shudder. Cute mewls filled the air as Ruby pressed into Cinder, her eyes fluttering open weakly to meet the older woman’s gaze.

“Was that good, pet?”

“It… It was amazing, but,” Ruby squirmed about, moaning softly when Cinder’s fingers pushed particularly deep, “I-I’m a little sensitive.”

“Oh, I bet. But I know you, you’re not satisfied yet, are you?”

“I- ah! Oh, Cinder…” Ruby panted, pressing as close to Cinder as she could manage with her arms still trapped above her head.

“You just want more and more. But it’s alright, I’ll give you what you need. You said you wanted me to make you cum, so I will, over and over until you’re spent.”

Her eyes brightened with dawning realisation. “You’re so good to me, ma’am.”

“Only because you deserve it.” Cinder punctuated the statement by taking Ruby’s lips in a heated kiss. The two tangled together, Ruby being driven a little wild when she tasted her own arousal, still thick in Cinder’s mouth from the earlier oral. All the while Cinder’s hand continued its slow and steady rhythm, thrusting into Ruby’s sensitive pussy over and over.

The sensation gradually grew to be overwhelming for Ruby, pulling away from the kiss and meeting Cinder’s intense gaze with her own half-lidded and desperate eyes. She struggled to search for words, her mind felt so hazy and every little movement of Cinder’s fingers sent little cotton candy esque puffs of static rattling around her brain. Eventually she found what she was looking for, murmuring out in a breathy voice. “M-More? Please, more…”

“Of course, Ruby.” She obliged her pet, amping up the speed of her thrusts in a way that left Ruby shuddering and crying out with abandon. Meanwhile her mouth found its way to Ruby’s neck, kissing and sucking at the tender skin there, determined to leave more than a few reminders of this night behind. Her heart was hammering away in her chest, the thought of leaving her mark prominently displayed on the girl she’d started to accept her feelings for leaving her warm and fulfilled.

Speaking of fulfilled, that was a good way to describe how Ruby was feeling. The new level of intensity that Cinder was taking her with was an intense experience, those fingers seeming to send lighting bolts of pleasure arcing all across her body. She was like a bitch in heat, a voice in her head whispered to her, just a slut good for nothing but fucking. The thought made her giggle in between all the moans that were spilling out of her mouth.

Cinder let her thumb press up against Ruby’s clit, watching in fascination as a thin line of drool began to slide out of the girl’s open mouth. The clit contact pushed Ruby over the line very suddenly, her body going from slight trembling shudders to the full-on spasming of an orgasm in an instant. Cinder ignored the way Ruby’s cunt tightened around her fingers, gripping them firmly, and just continued to thrust into the girl, although altering her timing to match the waves of the orgasm.

Even after the intensity of motion left Ruby’s body and her second orgasm ended, she was left shivering by Cinder’s seemingly endless assault. She mewled weakly when Cinder pressed up against her again, desperate for the warmth and security she felt from that bodily contact.

“How do you feel, pet?” Cinder’s eye roved across Ruby’s body, drinking in as much of the girl’s disheveled appearance as she possibly could.

“I… It’s so much, but… but it’s so good. Please don’t stop, ma’am. Please, please…” Her voice trailed off weakly.

“I said I’d keep going until you were spent, didn’t I? There’s no need to beg.”

Somehow, Ruby found the energy to respond by moaning happily, then began jerkily rolling her hips into Cinder’s thrusts. Cinder seemed to get the message, much to Ruby’s delight, and increased her pace to match the level she’d had before that second orgasm. Ruby was just so sensitive now, even the smallest motion would’ve been enough to drive her crazy, let alone the deep thrusts that Cinder was pushing into her right now. If it’d been hard for her to think before, now it was downright impossible, her mind completely consumed by the staticy fog of lust and pleasure. Instead of thinking she just tried to press as close in to her owner as possible, hands straining against the cuffs that still secured her more or less in place.

A smile lit up Cinder’s face at Ruby’s cute antics, followed by an even bigger smile when she felt the girl rapidly begin to cum once again, so soon after the last. This one was much more understated than the previous two, and Cinder didn’t even bother to slow down for it, instead just fucking Ruby harder as the jittery shudders rolled though her body. Those beautiful silver eyes seemed to become fully blissed out when the shudders faded, and without even really meaning to Cinder purred softly in delight. Getting to see Ruby like this was such a treat.

“You’re trying so, so hard to be a good girl for me, aren’t you?” Ruby was trembling so adorably, it made Cinder’s heart pound. “You just love being a sweet little pet for me, don’t you? You love being my prettiest toy.”

Ruby seemed to struggle to process what Cinder was saying, but nonetheless nodded fervently, her body continuing to shiver and jerk about unwittingly. Cinder could tell that Ruby was reaching her limit, succumbing more and more to overstimulation, and so eased off just a touch, pressing a soothing kiss against the girl’s cheek.

“You’re doing so well, Ruby. Just one more, and then you can rest. Can you do that for me? Just cum one more time?”

Once again, the only response Cinder received was a nod, closely followed by a long, tired moan, not that she expected much more at this point. Regardless, it was enough of an answer to convince her not to let up. She continued to drive her hand into Ruby’s burning hot core, covering herself more and more in the sticky fluid of arousal. Meanwhile, she pressed a tender kiss to the hickey that she’d left on Ruby’s neck earlier, enjoying the sharp intake of breath Ruby gave at the contact, and then proceeded to continue planting sloppy kisses all over the girl’s skin, driving her wilder and wilder.

It was like Ruby was floating high in the sky, all the earthly concerns of her body left behind and replaced with the wonderful feelings Cinder was bestowing on her. She felt those beautiful, dainty fingers push deep inside her yet again, only this time they curled about, exploring her insides until they found the place that made the clouds all around her explode into beautiful fireworks. She gasped, and shuddered, and did her best approximation of shouting out Cinder’s name, even as a soft, gentle voice crooned into her ear, guiding her through the explosive shockwaves that had begun to consume her body. After what seemed like forever, she crashed back down to Earth, eyes drifting back open to find herself gently cradled in Cinder’s embrace. A soft sigh slipped out of her at the sensation of a hand gently carding across her scalp, and she rolled her head over to look into the older woman’s golden eye.

Cinder was the first to speak. “Do you feel okay? It wasn’t too much, was it?”

“I’m fine, a little sore and worn out though,” Ruby giggled, “And no, it was great. Better than great, even. I really loved it.”

“That’s good to hear.” They lay in comfortable silence for a short time, Cinder’s hand continuing to gently stroke Ruby’s hair, before she suddenly stopped. “Oh, uh, I should take these off.” She scrambled up and set about releasing Ruby from the cuffs, “Sorry, totally slipped my mind.”

“It’s alright.” Ruby used her new freedom to stretch slightly, working out some of the stiffness that had settled into her arms, and then wrapped them straight around Cinder, pulling herself as close to that comforting warmth as possible. “I’d really love to get you back,” she murmured into the older woman’s breasts, “But, I’m really sorry, I think I might be too tired.”

“You know you don’t need to do that, Ruby. It’s like I’ve said, I like getting to take care of you. To make you feel good.”

“You’re so kind to me.” Silence settled again, Ruby’s soft breaths gently tickling Cinder’s skin. “Thank you for everything, for spending the night with me, and then for all this. I really loved it, really loved… getting to be with you.”

Cinder was certain that Ruby could feel the way her heart was slamming aggressively against her chest, almost like it wanted to break out. “Well,” She said after swallowing down a lump in her throat, “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it too.” She tried to force her heart rate to slow down, and ended up having to pull out of Ruby’s embrace, getting out of the bed and occupying herself by retrieving one of the towels she’d set out when they arrived. “Let me clean you up, I don’t want you to wake up tomorrow feeling all gross.”

Ruby smiled up at Cinder, nodded, and then let herself spend the rest of the night being gently taken care of in a way that left her heart fluttering.


	8. Interlude: Keep Your Cool, Yang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Ruby and Cinder fuck in the bathroom, Yang talks with Blake and Weiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey all! this is another double update with a small interlude chapter, this time from yang's perspective, and a more normal chapter to follow up. hope that you have a good time with it!

“We’ll be back in a minute!”

Yang watched with a great deal of amusement as Ruby and Cinder exited the room hand in hand, presumably to go shyly kiss in private. The pair was positively adorable together, dancing so softly, staring at each other like they were the only ones in the whole world, then finishing it all with a tender kiss. She almost regretted reminding them of where they were. Only almost though, Ruby had earned a little strife after all the times she’d poked fun at Yang for getting all sappy with Blake. Speaking of whom, she rolled her head over to look at the faunus seated beside her. “So, they seem to be having a good time.”

“Mmm,” Blake took the opportunity to lean up against her, “They’re really affectionate together, for better or worse.”

“Hah, I’ll say, they’ve hardly kept their hands off each other since they got here.” She paused momentarily as she considered her next words, reaching up to idly run her hand through Blake’s hair. “Do you… really think there’s something bad happening there? I mean, I know what you said about these things being hard to spot from outside, but they just seem so… happy together. It’s hard for me to imagine anything like that going on.”

“Sometimes abuse can hide beneath the surface. But I get what you mean, I can’t say I’ve spotted anything troubling. It just seems like they genuinely like one another. It’s not impossible that there’s more to it, but right now I wouldn’t really feel comfortable suspecting Cinder of anything. Not without some evidence, or Ruby actually telling us that she’s being hurt.”

Yang hummed in acknowledgement, scratching around the base of Blake’s cat-ears as she thought a little more. “Well, if there really isn’t anything to it, how do you think Weiss is going to react?”

Blake sighed happily at the scritches, only for her expression to turn sour at Yang’s question. “I really don’t know. Not well, but if Ruby and Cinder are going to be a thing, she’s going to need to come to terms with it eventually.”

“That might not be easy. I don’t want to point fingers, but I’ve been thinking that this might all just be because she’s jealous and not dealing with it well, and if that’s the case…”

“To be honest, I’d be inclined to agree with you on that. I mean, she’s had that big obvious crush on Ruby for years now. I think she’s always just sorta assumed that it would work out, and now that it’s seeming like it might not she’s struggling to deal with things. She’ll need help to get through it.”

“Well, I guess that’s what we’re here for. Team emotional support, reporting for duty.”

“Right,” Blake sighed once more, this time rife with dejection, “It’s a shame how this is all playing out. She’s usually such a sweetheart, it’s hard to see her hurting like this. Not to mention that it isn’t exactly making things easy for Ruby. I just wish that she’d realise that even if Ruby doesn’t like her that way, it doesn’t mean we all don’t still care about her.”

“Yeah… where is Weiss, by the way? I didn’t notice her step out.”

“I think she went outside for some fresh air right after those two started dancing.”

“Ah, that’d make sense,” Yang moved her hand round to caress Blake’s cheek, tilting the faunus’s head up so that they could share a brief kiss, “I might go find her, check she’s doing alright, maybe try to ease into talking about things.”

Blake smiled softly, giving Yang’s hand a comforting squeeze. “That sounds like a good idea. Just remember to keep your cool, Yang. You know this is a tough time for her, she might end up getting a little upset.”

“Course,” Yang smiled, pulling Blake into another short kiss, “Be back in a sec. Love ya.”

It didn’t take Yang long to find Weiss, who was standing out on the front verandah and staring grumpily at the largely empty road. The heiress snapped her head about sharply when she heard the door opening, only to deflate a touch and turn back to the road when she saw Yang waving cheerfully to her from the doorway.

“If you wanna come back in, Rubes and Cinder finished putting on their show and went off to find some privacy.” Yang ambled over, standing beside Weiss and flashing her a smile. “Still not the biggest fan of all that, huh?”

Weiss only grew grumpier at that, understandably. “I’ve told you exactly why I’m not.”

“Yeah, not exactly up to ballroom standards. Might have to tell them to practice a little more before next time.” Weiss gave Yang a cold glare. “Sorry, sorry, bad joke. Look, if it makes you feel any better, I had a talk with Cinder about stuff earlier, told her that I’d beat her up if she hurt Ruby. So, hopefully that makes her at least a little more hesitant to do anything, ey?”

“You did?” She seemed genuinely surprised. “I… didn’t think you believed me about any of that. How did she react?”

“Yeah, before you turned up tonight. She just said that she wouldn’t, and that it was nice to know we were looking out for Ruby. Didn’t even seem that intimidated, which like,” Yang paused to dramatically flex, “Didn’t she see these guns? Maybe I’m losing my touch.”

Thankfully that did seem to raise Weiss’s spirits a little, a small smile even flashing across her face at Yang’s antics, only to fall away as she considered something. “I’ve actually been meaning to say something to you, and this seems like a good time. I’m sorry for saying that you didn’t care about Ruby when we were out for dinner the other night. I know full well that you do, I was just… feeling upset, and I took it out on you, and that was unfair of me.”

“Hey, it’s all good.” She rested a hand on Weiss’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. “I do care about Ruby, a whole lot. But y’know, I also care about you. So does Blake. We want you to be happy at the end of this just as much as we want Ruby to.”

“Well of course I’ll be happy once they finally split up.”

Yang paused awkwardly. “That’s not exactly what I meant. It’s just… have you thought about what you’re gonna do if in the end we find out that there’s nothing bad happening? If they end up staying together?”

“I…” Weiss turned her gaze away from Yang, her eyes narrowing as she stared back out onto the road, “If it was a healthy relationship, I’d have no problem. But obviously, it’s not.”

“Are you sure?” Yang wasn’t entirely sure if pressing this right now was a good decision, but hey she hadn’t drunk three beers tonight for nothing. “It’s just that, I’ve been thinking a bit, and it seems sorta like you might be a little, y’know, jealous of Cinder. And that that might be kinda colouring your view of things.”

“Wha- I- I don’t-” Weiss’s eyes widened dramatically, her head snapping back to face Yang as she spluttered. “I am not jealous! Why would I be? It’s not like I like Ruby that way! That would be completely absurd! Stop being absurd!”

“Okay, okay,” Yang held her hands up defensively, suppressing the urge to laugh, “No need to freak out.” She waited until Weiss seemed to have calmed down a touch, and then shone her a genuine smile. “We, me and Blake, just want you to know that we love you a lot, Weiss. You’ve been a part of our lives for a long time, and the last thing we want is for you to get hurt over something like this. We’ll be there for you whenever you need us.”

“I’m… I appreciate that, but I’m really not. I’m not jealous of Cinder.”

“Hey, if you say so, I believe you.” She pulled Weiss into a firm hug. The heiress seemed to be a thousand miles away, her mind racing as she struggled with what Yang had said. “Just remember that if you are, there’s nothing wrong with that, it happens to everyone. You just gotta make sure that you’re dealing with it properly.”

“Y-Yeah, okay. But I’m not.” Weiss looked positively shell shocked as Yang held her. Eventually, Yang pulled back and gave her one more comforting squeeze on the shoulder.

“I reckon we should head back in, seemed like the magic game was about to wrap up and we don’t wanna let that lot pick a movie without us getting a say, hey?”

“Right… Right, of course.” Weiss spared one last glance out into the distance, and then followed Yang back inside, failing entirely to suppress the troubled expression on her face the whole while.

That definitely wasn’t the best way things could’ve gone, Yang mused. But, at least Weiss didn’t get angry at her, and if it made the heiress confront her feelings a little sooner than she would’ve otherwise it was probably worth it. She was going to have to eventually, and the sooner the better for everyone involved.


	9. Fucking Nailed It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Cinder meet Neo's new girlfriend, spend a lazy day together, and make some progress with their relationship.

Cinder woke up late that next morning. The sounds of someone cooking in the kitchen, presumably Neo getting breakfast, filtered in through her door and pulled her out of her restful slumber, welcoming her back to the annoyance that was her waking life. She groaned, scrunched her eye shut tight, and buried her face in Ruby’s hair, desperately trying to fall back to sleep. The stupid dream she’d been having was just getting to the good part, she’d finally gotten those cool magical fire powers that she’d been aiming for all night, but she just had to go and wake up before she even got to do anything with them. Typical.

It didn’t take very long for Ruby to start to wake up too, her soft stirring intimately obvious to Cinder given their position spooning together. Soon she was awake enough to process the sounds coming out of the kitchen, and immediately slipped out of Cinder’s embrace to sit bolt upright. “Breakfast?” she gasped, almost reverentially.

“Well, good morning to you too,” Cinder drawled, resigning herself to never getting to see the end of that cool dream, “Sounds like Neo’s making something for herself, but if you wanna get up we could get something.”

It was then that Ruby remembered where she was, a sheepish smile breaking out on her face. “Sorry, sorry, got a little excited there. I’m kinda hungry, but at the same time I really wanna just stay here, in bed with you.” She lay back down, rolling so that she could face Cinder and gaze fondly into her eye.

“I get what you mean,” Cinder allowed herself a small smile, wrapping her arm back round Ruby’s body, “I love waking up next to you.”

A surprised blush lit up Ruby’s face at that frank statement, and she only managed a quiet, “Geez, Cinder,” before the older girl pulled her into a warm kiss. The pair practically melted into each other, the soft affection almost overloading their just barely awakened brains as they tangled together. Ruby could feel Cinder’s hand settling against the back of her head, where it began slowly but firmly guiding her movements, controlling her in a way that made her feel so safe and secure. She pressed herself up against Cinder as close as she could manage, while their lips continued to move rhythmically against each other.

The kiss had to end eventually, and soon the pair was left wrapped up tightly together, each staring happily at the other as they basked in the moment. Ruby was the first to speak, “I’m so not looking forward to leaving. I kinda wish we could just keep cuddling here forever.”

“Well, that sounds nice, although just cuddling sounds a little restrictive. There’s plenty of other things we could be doing in bed together, after all.”

Ruby snorted, then batted her eyes at Cinder cutely. “Didn’t get enough of me last night?”

“Of course not,” Cinder shifted her voice to be deeper and huskier, trailing her hand down Ruby’s back to squeeze at one of her perfect buttcheeks, “Want me to prove it?”

That got Ruby properly giggling. “I think I might still be too sore.”

“Hm, unfortunate.” Cinder paused for a few moments, trying to carefully consider her next words while also still occasionally squeezing Ruby’s butt. “You know, if you’re not looking forward to leaving, you could always stay? And spend the day here? I mean, I know we haven’t really done that before, and if you have stuff on that’s fine. But like, I’m gonna be free, so if you did wanna stay here for the day I’d be fine with it. So if you’re fine with it too, it’d be… fine.”

“Oh, wow, really? That sounds great, Cinder, I’d love to spend the day together!”

“Cool,” was the extremely articulate response Cinder managed to come up with, all the while her internal self was fistpumping incessantly while screaming “FUCKING NAILED IT,” over and over.

“Hey,” Ruby’s voice interrupted Cinder’s internal celebration, “There’s something I’ve been kinda wanting to try with you, and today might be a good opportunity, if you’re okay with it.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“Can we…” She trailed off for a few beats, teeth worrying at her lower lip, “Maybe take a shower together?”

Cinder felt her cheeks heat up at the suggestion, and flashed Ruby a devilish smile. “Oh, Ruby,” she gave the girl’s butt one last firm squeeze before sitting up, “I think that sounds fun. Do you want to go do it now?”

She stood after receiving an eager nod, pushed past the regret that came from leaving the most comfortable place in the world, grabbed a clean change of clothes for after the shower, and made her way to the door. Luckily, at the last moment she remembered that Neo was already up and quickly pulled on her underwear to avoid the short walk to the bathroom becoming too awkward. Not that Neo hadn’t seen her naked before, but still, it seemed polite. A quick glance behind her told her that Ruby was pulling on her shirt from the night before for much the same purpose, and Cinder decided to slip out ahead of her to quickly tell Neo about how she’d be staying over for the day.

However, almost as soon as Cinder had stepped out of her room, her quest to find Neo was interrupted by a voice she didn’t quite recognise. “Sal-u-tations Cinder Fall! That’s a very lovely bra you’re wearing! I like how lacy it is!”

Cinder jumped noticeably, understandable given that she had very much not been expecting any voices to be out here, let alone one belonging to an enthusiastic ginger wearing an almost excessively frilly outfit. The girl did seem at least a little familiar to her, and so once she’d recovered from her moment of shock she spent a couple of awkward seconds wracking her tired brain for her identity. “Uh, yeah, morning… Penny?” she spoke hesitantly.

The girl beamed happily at her, which she hoped meant she’d gotten the name right and not that she’d just embarrassed herself. Thankfully, things were starting to come back to her. The girl was Penny Pollen… or something like that. She was Neo’s latest girlfriend, they’d met at a protest march in the city a while back, kept in touch after, and then started going out a couple of weeks ago.

Cinder had only met her once, an encounter which largely consisted of her awkwardly walking past Penny and Neo as they made out on the couch so that she could grab a snack out of the kitchen. On her way back Penny had paused the kissing, said “Salutations Cinder Fall! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, I’m Penny!” and then immediately went back to sucking Neo’s face as if she hadn’t stopped.

In retrospect, Cinder wasn’t sure how that encounter hadn’t burned the name into her memory a little more firmly, but hey she was bad with names, give her a break.

“I hope my being here isn’t a bother, Neo invited me over so that she could give me a lesson on baking! I got so excited I may have arrived a little earlier than anticipated.”

“Oh, that’s fine, sounds fun.” Neo had tried to teach Cinder to bake once. It hadn’t been fun, though to be fair she was a very argumentative student which probably didn’t help. At the very least, the fire she accidentally started didn’t do any significant damage to the apartment. “I’ve just gotta talk to her about something and then I’ll be out of your hair. Is she around somewhere?”

“Affirmative! Neo is just making some breakfast for herself in the kitchen.” Penny paused for a moment, staring intently in the direction of the aforementioned kitchen before turning back to Cinder with a bright smile. “She says that it sounded like you had a lot of fun last night!”

Cinder did her best to beat down the shot of embarrassment that welled up inside her, and focused instead on scowling while walking across the room to their tiny kitchen, finding Neo inside doubled over with silent laughter. “Alright, you of all people don’t get to complain to me about having loud sex late at night.”

“To be fair,” Neo signed after calming herself down enough to manage it, “I’m never the one making noise.”

“Yeah well. Fuck you.”

“Ooh, a biting comeback.”

Cinder rolled her eye. “Whatever. Hey, so I was talking with Ruby about maybe spending the day together here, but if you and Penny want the apartment to yourselves we can go out, or back to her place, or something.”

“Eh, I don’t mind you two being around, not like I have any sense of shame. Penny’ll be cool with it too.”

“Alright then. Oh, and would you mind leaving the frypan and stuff out? Me and Ruby are just gonna have a shower, and then we’ll make something for breakfast.”

“Want me to just make some more bacon and eggs for you two while you’re showering? I don’t mind, and it might be easier since I’m already here.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” She paused for a beat. “Thanks, Neo.”

Neo shook with another round of barely contained laughter. “You’re so polite lately, Ruby’s been a really good influence.” This earned her another of Cinder’s trademarked scowls.

Speaking of Ruby, it was right then that she emerged from Cinder’s room, rubbing sleepily at one of her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but was beaten to the punch by Penny. “Ruby? What a pleasant surprise!”

“Penny?” Shock quickly overtook Ruby’s expression. “What… What are you doing here?”

“Wait, do you two know each other?” Cinder interrupted, although at this point she was hardly surprised. Ruby already seemed to know pretty much everyone.

“We do! We were classmates back during highschool.” Penny turned her attention back to Ruby. “I recently entered into a relationship with Neopolitan, Cinder’s roommate! How surprising though, I had no idea that the two of you were involved also. What a strange coincidence!” It may have been Cinder’s imagination, but Penny’s cheerfulness almost seemed to have become a little forced.

“Uh… yeah, weird. Um…”

Ruby seemed to be feeling pretty awkward, and so Cinder decided to come to the rescue, crossing the room and draping herself against the girl. “Sorry to interrupt this touching reunion, but Ruby and I were just about to take a shower, if that’s alright?”

“Oh, of course!” Penny responded quickly, “I hope that you both have an enjoyable washing experience!”

“I’m sure we’ll find a way.” She smiled demurely at Penny, then looked down to Ruby, who was presently blushing furiously at having Cinder’s largely nude body pressed up against her. After receiving a small nod of affirmation, Cinder led her away into the safety of the bathroom.

“Is everything okay?” she said once the door was closed behind them, “That seemed more than a little awkward. She wasn’t like, your highschool enemy was she? Because if so I’ll absolutely fight her for the right to be your greatest nemesis.”

That earned her a small laugh. “No, no, nothing like that. I promise you’re still my one and only,” Ruby gave Cinder a sly wink, only for her expression to drop right after, “Actually, she’s my uh… my ex. We dated for a while, but ended up splitting after we graduated.”

“Oh. Ooooh. Sorry, I had no idea. It wasn’t… bad was it?”

“No, don’t worry, it was all friendly. We just kinda realised our lives were going in different directions. Literally, actually, she ended up moving to a different city with her family. We kept chatting for a while after, but that kinda fell by the wayside eventually. It was mostly just a shock to see her again after all this time. I didn’t even know she was back living here again.”

Despite still possessing a healthy level of concern that this encounter might have dredged up some painful memories, Cinder found herself also starting to feel a little bit of jealousy. Okay, maybe more than a little bit. Did that girl seriously get to date Ruby? Why didn’t Cinder get to date Ruby? Life was fucking unfair. She stepped closer to the younger girl, caught her chin between her thumb and forefinger, and tilted her head up so that their eyes met. “In that case, let me help you forget all about her. I’m the only one you need to think about right now.”

Ruby sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes dilating a touch with excitement. “Yes ma’am.”

\---

A steady stream of warm water washed down over the pair’s nude bodies as they tangled together inside the cramped shower. Cinder could do little but smile softly as Ruby buried her face into the older woman’s chest, struggling to suppress the torrent of giggles that continued to spill out of her.

“Cinder!” she gasped out amidst the laughs, “That tickles!”

“Oh? What was that?” Cinder continued to dance her fingers up and down the side of Ruby’s body, delighting in the cute little reactions she was pulling out of the girl. Soon her back hit the shower’s wall as Ruby pressed more firmly into her, a happy sigh escaping her mouth when she began to feel little kisses being pressed along her collarbone.

Ruby gradually worked her way up, trailing kisses onto Cinder’s neck, and then slowly higher until she reached her jawline. She worked her giggling into her technique, pausing occasionally to just nuzzle into Cinder and laugh at the continuous tickle assault. Eventually though, it did end, with Cinder’s hand sliding up Ruby’s body to instead tangle into her hair and yank her back a short distance.

The whine that Ruby gave at that made Cinder’s heart flutter, and she quickly set about swallowing it up, taking Ruby’s mouth in a warm kiss. Just a kiss wasn’t enough for either of them though, and soon their tongues were tangling against each other. A surprised, yet happy, hum vibrated out of Cinder when she felt Ruby taking some initiative, her hands settling on Cinder’s breasts and beginning to knead them gently. Soon she was moaning eagerly, encouraging Ruby to continue while also using the grip she had on the back of the girl’s head to control the pace of the kiss.

“This was a really good suggestion, Ruby, I’m enjoying it.” Cinder smiled when they finally broke apart, moving her hand up to softly pet Ruby’s hair. “Good girl.”

Ruby giggled happily, beaming up at Cinder amidst the water that continued to wash over them. After a few moments she grew quiet, and then tentatively reached a hand out to run through Cinder’s hair. Slowly, she pushed back the hair that fell over the older woman’s missing eye, gazing almost reverentially at the scarred flesh. “You know, I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you without your eyepatch on. You’re usually always wearing it, even when we sleep together.”

“Ah. Yeah.” Cinder felt a shy blush warm her cheeks as she let her gaze move away from Ruby, falling instead on a really interesting spot on the wall beside her. “I… don’t really like people seeing me without it.”

“Oh!” Ruby gasped. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think.” She went to pull her hand away, but was stopped when Cinder’s hand snapped up, catching her wrist and holding it in place.

“I um,” Cinder spoke quietly, slowly moving her gaze back to meet Ruby’s shining silver eyes, “I don’t mind if it’s you, though.”

“Oh,” Ruby said again, softly this time. When Cinder’s hand fell away, Ruby kept hers in place, holding Cinder’s hair back. She leaned in slowly, and began pressing soft kisses against the scars that covered the left side of Cinder’s face. “You’re so beautiful,” she breathed out, her breath blowing hot against the wet skin.

Despite herself, Cinder trembled slightly. She wrapped her arm tightly around Ruby’s back, holding her tightly. “So are you. You always take my breath away.”

Their lips met again, this time slow and tender, and when the kiss finally ended the pair was left wrapped together, their hearts pounding in wonderful synchronicity.

Cinder was the first to speak again, although she regretted what was coming, “We should probably get out now, it’s been a while.”

Ruby pouted, but gave a nod, extricating herself from their embrace and awkwardly reaching around in the cramped shower to turn the water off. With that, they were left standing together, water slowly dripping down each of their bodies. Ruby looked up at Cinder with a smirk, “You always do such a good job getting me wet, I’m practically soaked now. It’s gonna be so hard to deal with on my own,” she finished with a wink.

“Oh, ha ha,” Cinder replied with a roll of the eye, giving Ruby a light flick on the forehead when she was done. “Keep telling bad jokes and I won’t help you dry off.”

\---

Having finished their shower, gotten dressed, and gratefully devoured the breakfast that Neo had made for them, Ruby and Cinder found themselves curled up together on the couch. Ruby was laying atop Cinder, using her breasts as a makeshift pillow while reading something on her phone, while Cinder was gently stroking Ruby’s hair and watching Penny and Neo bake in the kitchen with an idle fascination.

She still couldn’t get over the fact that Penny and Ruby had dated. Not that it should come as too much of a surprise. Well, the fact that it would end up being the person Neo had just started dating was a bit surprising, but in general the idea that Ruby had gone out with other girls was reasonable enough. She’d even thought about it before, Ruby was such a catch that it’d be ludicrous to assume no one else had ever been interested in her. Still, it was another thing to be confronted by it so directly. She wondered if Penny still had any feelings for Ruby?

Jealousy filled her at the thought, and she had to struggle to clamp it down. Even if she was in love with Ruby, they didn’t have any sort of real relationship, they hadn’t even agreed to be exclusive. If Ruby did want to pursue someone else, she was well within her rights to, and Cinder didn’t have the right to be upset about that.

She was being ridiculous anyway, Penny was pretty clearly very happy with Neo. As she watched them in the kitchen, Neo scooped up a little glob of the icing she’d been mixing up and presented it to Penny, who proceeded to shyly lick it off Neo’s fingers while blushing an intense shade of red. Cute. Cinder wondered if Ruby knew how to bake, and if she’d be willing to give her a lesson. Ruby would probably enjoy it, she already loved having Cinder’s fingers in her mouth, a little icing being involved would just be… well, icing on the cake.

Anyway, back on track, everything Neo had told Cinder about this relationship indicated that they liked each other a lot, and to the best of Cinder’s knowledge Neo didn’t have any interest in polyamory or open relationships. It certainly wasn’t impossible, but it just didn’t seem particularly likely that anything was going to happen between Penny and Ruby right now. Certainly not likely enough that she should waste her energy worrying about it.

Instead she could put that energy toward focusing on the girl laying on top of her, who was currently snorting cutely while looking at her phone. “Hey, hey, Cinder, look at this,” Ruby said, holding the screen up to her. Predictably, it was some inane meme about a kitten riding a skateboard (The owner wanted to call a vet because the cat was ‘sick af’ apparently). Obviously Cinder would never find this more than mildly amusing normally, but something about Ruby’s glee was positively infectious, and she found herself loudly laughing along.

When she finally managed to bring herself back under control, she found Ruby grinning widely up at her. “You look so pretty when you’re happy,” the younger girl spoke plainly, crawling up Cinder’s body and catching her lips in a short kiss when she was done.

“Well, I guess it’s good that I’ve got you here to keep me in a good mood, then,” Cinder replied evenly. Ruby giggled happily, then leaned in for another kiss. Something just felt so right about all this, the two of them laying together like this, all soft touches and softer words. She was starting to wonder how she’d ever convinced herself that she hated this girl. The way Ruby looked at her now was so warm, and sweet, Cinder’s heart felt like it could burst at any second.

They kissed again and again and maybe Cinder could find herself starting to believe what Neo had told her the other day. That Ruby really would return Cinder’s feelings. Crazier things had happened, after all. The possibility that she wouldn’t was still very real in Cinder’s mind, still too frightening for her to consider actually going through with telling her just yet. But maybe, just maybe, she was starting to see a future where that could happen.

\---

A few hours had gone by since then, and Ruby and Cinder had eventually come to the decision that they probably shouldn’t spend the entire day just cuddling on the couch, despite how appealing that sounded. Instead they’d headed out for a walk, grabbing some lunch from a nearby fast food place (at Ruby’s insistence) while they were at it. From there they’d walked a little further, picked up some coffees from Ruby’s friend’s cafe, and then headed into a local park.

“You know,” Cinder started, “I don’t think I’ve ever been here before.” The two of them were walking down a sunny pathway that snaked along the outside edge of a large, grassy field where a few teens were playing footy. Behind them, children clambered about on a modest playground while parents anxiously watched on, and in front a handful of dogs raced about and played together. Usually Cinder didn’t particularly enjoy being out and around so many people, but having Ruby by her side was enough to overcome all that discomfort.

“Really? It’s so close to your place though!” Ruby practically seemed to glow in the afternoon sun, trotting along beside Cinder with an easy smile on her face.

“I guess I never really had a reason to check it out before now.”

“It’s really nice, you could use it if you wanted to go out running or something.”

“Eh,” Cinder shrugged, “I’ve never really had much interest in exercising all that much.” She took a long sip of her coffee. This stupid cup was really a double-edged sword. On the one hand it was really nice coffee, but on the other she wanted to try holding Ruby’s hand while they walked together and the cup was rendering that impossible by occupying her one and only hand. “Do you run?”

“Yeah I try to go out for a bit most days,” she gave Cinder a playful nudge, “You’ve been a bad influence on me though, I keep wanting to spend all day lazing around with you, I’m becoming a real slacker.”

Cinder briefly imagined what Ruby might look like after coming back from one of those runs. Panting with exertion, red in the face, beads of sweat rolling down her neck and falling in between her- alright, just gonna cut that image off before she gets too excited in public. Save that for later, focus on the conversation for now. “Well,” she gave a sly smirk, “I think I’m probably making up for any missed running with all those late night workouts I’ve been giving you.” She finished the statement with a wink. Or at least, she meant it as a wink, it was kinda hard for people to tell sometimes what was winking and what was blinking with her. She was pretty sure Ruby got it, though.

A small blush found its way onto Ruby’s cheeks as she gave Cinder another playful nudge. “You’re definitely a good trainer, I’m always so worn out afterwards.”

“Still, the most important thing in training is to be consistent. Maybe we should have another session tonight, what do you think?”

Ruby snorted loudly. “You can be such a dork sometimes, Cinder. If you’re asking me if I’d like to sleep with you again tonight, then the answer is yes.”

“Hey, I’m not a dork,” Cinder huffed in faux annoyance, “I’m very cool.”

This time Ruby gave a full on laugh, bringing a smile to Cinder’s face in the process. “You are very cool, you’re just also a dork.”

\---

The pair ended up spending a surprising amount of time in the park, walking until they came across a shaded bench where they sat and chatted quietly while watching the world go by. Ruby spent a lot of the time gushing about how cute all the dogs playing nearby them were, and while Cinder tried to maintain her usual level of cool detachment, she couldn’t stop herself awwing at one tiny pup that ran over to say hello to them. The owner even had the audacity to run over and apologise profusely for disturbing them, as if this wasn’t the most adorable thing they’d seen all day. Well, Cinder glanced over at Ruby, second most adorable, but still that was pretty good.

Eventually though, they did decide to leave, and on the walk back to her apartment Cinder was faced with her greatest challenge of the day so far. They’d both finished their coffees in the park and disposed of the cups, meaning that she was now free to hold Ruby’s hand while they walked. She just had to bring herself to go through with it, which was proving to be a good deal more nerve wracking than it had any right to be. Seriously, she’d literally been inside Ruby just last night, holding hands should not feel like such a big deal.

Before she could actually finish working up the courage, she felt Ruby’s hand slip into her own, making her stiffen dramatically. “Is this okay?” Ruby’s voice came from beside her as she pointedly looked forward, trying to force herself to calm down before she could meet her eyes.

“Yep! I mean, yeah, sure. If you want to. Not that I don’t want to. But. Yep.”

Ruby gave Cinder’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Alright then,” she said happily. They held hands like that for the rest of the walk home, which absolutely didn’t make Cinder way way more flustered than it had any right to. When they got back, they discovered that Neo and Penny had finished with their adventures in the kitchen and were currently going at it on the couch. Neo had Penny pinned under her, their crotches grinding up against each other as she showered the taller girl in kisses.

Cinder and Ruby did their best to walk by the two girls without drawing too much attention, but still got a “Salutations you two! I hope that you had a pleasant walk!” from Penny before they made it to Cinder’s room. Ruby responded with an awkward thumbs up as Penny, without missing a beat, went back to moaning Neo’s name.

As soon as they were safely locked away in her room, Cinder flicked her fan on, cracked her window open, and then pinned Ruby down onto her bed and took her lips in a long, slow kiss. She felt one of Ruby’s hands settle on the back of her head, felt those fingers stroking back and forth through her jet black locks as she groaned against Ruby’s mouth.

“Wow Cinder, did you get jealous of those two outside?” Ruby grinned devilishly as soon as the kiss ended.

Cinder hummed noncommittally. “Let’s just say they gave me some ideas.” She pressed back into Ruby, kissing her way along the girl’s jawline to her ear. “I want you, Ruby. Do you want me?” she whispered huskily, feeling Ruby’s body shiver against her.

“Always,” Ruby gasped cutely, her breath leaving her, along with whatever bravado she’d started the encounter with, as Cinder started to nibble gently on the shell of her ear, “But, I really want to… to service you. I wanna make you feel so good, Cinder. Please?”

“You’re so precious Ruby. My pretty little rose.” Cinder sat up suddenly, looking down at Ruby still laying below her. “If that’s what you’d like, I think I’d love it.” little by little, she shrugged off her clothes, tossing them haphazardly around the room as Ruby looked on with hungry eyes. “I want to ride your face, cutie. Is that alright with you?” Ruby’s nod was so eager that it made Cinder snicker. “You’re such a subby slut.”

“I am!” she responded without hesitation. “I just wanna be your good girl. Your good pet. I wanna obey you.”

“Oh, Ruby,” Cinder breathed out, shifting around to take position above Ruby, thighs either side of the girl’s head, “You’re so beautiful.” She reached down, stroking Ruby’s hair softly and watching her reactions with gentle affection. “Do you feel ready?”

“Mhm.”

Cinder slowly lowered herself down, until she was close enough that Ruby could start to lick at her core. That first touch felt so good it had to be sinful, Ruby’s tongue softly sliding up the length of her slit as she threw her head back and let out a long, low sigh of pleasure.

“You’re so wet Cinder,” Ruby spoke as breathlessly as Cinder felt.

“It’s all for you.” Cinder lowered herself down a touch further, simultaneously taking hold of Ruby’s hair and pulling her head up. Ruby got the message and went to work, lapping feverishly at Cinder’s pussy as the older woman began to grind down against her face.

The sound of Cinder moaning quickly filled the room. Soon, that sound was joined by Ruby, who let out yelps, groans, and moans of her own every time Cinder yanked at her hair. The way those noises vibrated against her core only made Cinder more eager, pulling harder and grinding with more intensity. She could feel Ruby inside her, feel the girl she loved trying to please her so desperately, it made her feel light and happy even as the torrent of flame and pressure that raged inside her grew more and more powerful.

Ruby’s arms clamped around Cinder’s thighs, pulling the pair even closer together. From her new position, her nose now rubbed up against Cinder’s clit with every roll of the older woman’s hips, something that began to send slight tremors rocking through that beautiful body perched atop her. Ruby extended her tongue as far as she could manage, straining as she pushed as much of it into Cinder as possible. All she wanted was to be good, to make Cinder feel incredible. It certainly seemed to be working, as Cinder fucked herself harder and harder against Ruby’s face with every passing second.

“So… so good, you’re so good…” Cinder’s voice came out as a cute whine that made Ruby feel like she was going to combust with joy. “Just a little more, oh Ruby, Ruby, Ruby,” she moaned Ruby’s name over and over like it was something precious, a little prayer of desperation as she moved closer and closer to the edge of the abyss. Her head tumbled forward, looking down at Ruby and meeting her eyes, eyes that stared up at Cinder’s body with a blissful hunger. Ruby was just so precious, Cinder’s hand shot away from her head and gripped tightly onto the bed’s headboard in a desperate attempt to retain her balance.

Her orgasm smashed into her with a merciless fury, wracking her body with explosive shudders that the small part of her brain still capable of thought worried might hurt Ruby. the girl didn’t shy away though, continuing to press firmly into Cinder as the older woman roughly rode her. Even as she came, Cinder didn’t stop repeating Ruby’s name, practically chanting it by the end.

Once her body had settled, Cinder slid off of Ruby, landing in a boneless pile beside her and gasping for air. Ruby didn’t seem to feel like waiting though, practically crawling up Cinder’s body as soon as she was free and taking her in another burning kiss. They each moaned into the other, Cinder’s tongue quickly slipping into Ruby’s mouth and getting a full blast of the taste of her own arousal. Ruby let Cinder explore her for a few moments, before pulling away and staring happily at her partner’s worn out expression. “Was I good?” she asked.

“Oh, of course you were,” Cinder ran her hand softly up and down the girl’s back, “So obedient, so precious. My perfect pet, aren’t you?”

Ruby beamed back at her, and then nuzzled into the crook of her neck. “I am. I’m all yours.” She slowly began pressing feather light kisses against the flesh there, holding Cinder tight as they both recovered some energy.

Meanwhile, that last little exchange continued to rattle around in Cinder’s head, as it almost always did when they shared those kinds of words. Ruby wasn’t hers, although she really wanted her to be. Maybe… maybe it was past time to do something about that. Actually asking the girl out was still too frightening, but maybe she could take some baby steps. How had Neo put it again? Show her that Cinder cared beyond the casual relationship they had so far. “Hey, Ruby… before we keep going can we talk quickly? About something sorta serious.”

Ruby tensed ever so slightly against Cinder, and then pulled away, propping herself up with her elbows and looking toward the older woman. “Course, what is it?”

“So,” Cinder glanced away momentarily, then back toward Ruby, suddenly feeling a lot less sure of herself, “When all this started we… well I guess mostly me, said that this all just sorta didn’t mean anything. That I was just doing it because it was convenient and that I’d move on soon.” She waited until Ruby gave a hesitant nod before continuing. “Well, I know I said all that but… I’ve really been enjoying this, what we have going on, and… I was thinking that I’d like to make it something more… serious. Only if you’re interested too, of course, no pressure or anything.”

“Well… what exactly do you mean by that?”

“I mean,” Cinder suddenly realised she’d been clenching her fist tightly, nails digging into the soft flesh of her palm, and made herself release it before she continued, “Maybe we could agree to be exclusive? You know, not see anyone else while we’re still doing this, for as long as we want to stick with it.”

“Oh, well sure.” Ruby scratched at the back of her head a touch sheepishly. “I haven’t actually been doing stuff with anyone else anyway.”

“Wait, really?”

“Is it that surprising? Before this, I hadn’t actually been with anyone since Penny back in high school.”

“Wow.” Cinder looked up at the ceiling, feeling kinda silly as quite a bit of her anxiety seemed to drain away. “It’s just, you’re so great. I was sure you’d have plenty of stuff going on.”

Ruby giggled a little. “That’s nice of you to say, but no.” She paused briefly, seeming to mull something over. “Have you? Been with other people since we first hooked up, I mean?”

“No, not at all.”

“Oh. To be honest, I was pretty sure you would’ve. You’re really hot and stuff.”

Despite herself, Cinder let out a short laugh. “Well, good to know you think so. But uh, yeah, I guess neither of us have anything else going on right now.”

“Well, in any case I’d love to officially agree to be exclusive to you with all this. I’ve meant it all those times I’ve said that I like getting to spend time with you, Cinder.” Ruby pressed up against Cinder again, looping her arm around Cinder’s waist. “So… if we’re going to be exclusive to each other now, does that also mean that you’re officially my domme? That I’m… all yours?” her voice dipped low and husky as she spoke.

“I…” Cinder felt a blush settle on her cheeks, “I’d like that, if it’s what you want.” She reached her hand down, resting it against Ruby’s. “Would you like to be mine, Ruby?”

“Do you really need to ask at this point? Yes.”

Cinder gave Ruby’s hand a gentle squeeze, then slowly trailed up her arm, eventually settling in her hair and stroking it. “Good girl. You’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” Ruby confirmed. She let Cinder pull her closer by her hair, their lips meeting in a kiss that began soft, but quickly turned rough. Ruby soon found herself below Cinder. Below her owner, she thought as a pleased tremor ran through her body. Before Ruby had much of a chance to react, she felt Cinder’s teeth biting down on her lower lip and gave off an involuntary moan. Cinder’s tongue slipped inside her quickly after, pushing around in all those familiar ways the older woman had learned that Ruby loved.

When the kiss ended Cinder rolled off of Ruby, laying down beside her and looking deep into those silver eyes. They each stared at the other for a few moments, panting lightly for air, until Ruby moved in closer once more, wrapping her arms around Cinder and nuzzling into her chest. “I want to touch you again, Cinder. To make you feel good. Can I?” Ruby spoke softly, barely audible even in the quiet room.

“You’re such a sweet, obedient pet. You want to be so good for me.”

“I do,” she breathed out, sitting up beside Cinder and batting her eyes cutely. “I want to be so, so good for you ma’am.”

Cinder smiled, then spread her legs wide. “Make me cum, pet. I want you.”

Ruby bent down, putting her mouth to one of Cinder’s breasts and taking the nipple fully into her mouth. Cinder’s moans were practically musical when Ruby started to suck, and she quickly felt that domineering hand settle on the back of her head to control the pace of things. Her hand, meanwhile, slipped in between Cinder’s legs, finding the space there still covered in the slick of arousal. She released the nipple with an audible pop so that she could give off a brief moan in appreciation, only for Cinder to quickly guide her over to the other breast, which she dutifully began to cover in kisses and small bites.

As Ruby’s fingers pushed inside the tight wetness that was Cinder’s cunt, Cinder growled long and low. “That’s it, cutie. You’re doing so well already.” Ruby purred at the encouragement, and set a cracking pace as she began to thrust deep into Cinder. “It’s… you’re so pathetic. So desperate to please me. You look so beautiful like this,” Cinder struggled to keep her voice steady through the pleasure, staring down at the irresistible sight of Ruby sucking on her chest the whole while. The dirty talk sent a quiver through Ruby’s body that Cinder could feel through the fingers pushed deep inside her, the sudden sensation making her brain start to melt into a haze of warm lust.

Ruby let her eyes fall shut, focusing entirely on Cinder, letting herself be guided back and forth between her breasts. Without even really thinking about it, she slid her other hand down between her own legs, starting to finger herself at the same pace as Cinder. Her own groans and moans joined Cinder’s, forming a heavenly chorus as they were both sent soaring higher and higher together.

“Ruby!” Cinder gasped out, hand clenching in the girl’s hair when she felt another finger slide into her pussy. “You’re mine, all mine,” her voice was shaky, struggling to manage words amidst the fervent fucking she was receiving. But she was right, Ruby was really hers now. Her pet. Her cute, pretty, perfect little pet.

The pet in question, meanwhile, was consumed with very similar thoughts. Cinder owned her. The thought sent waves of heat washing all over her. All she needed to do was be a good pet, no need to worry about life, or her friends, or what tomorrow would bring. She just needed to fuck and be fucked, to be cute and obedient, to show off how pathetic and slutty she was. That steady stream of dirty thoughts was driving her wild, making her amp up the speed with which she was thrusting into both herself and Cinder.

With a strangled cry, Cinder came. Her body spasmed against Ruby as tidal waves of ecstasy crashed over her again and again. As if on reflex she yanked hard on Ruby’s hair, the younger girl yelping in surprise as she edged closer and closer to her own orgasm. While intense, Cinder’s orgasm didn’t last long, and soon she was left greedily sucking in breaths of air.

“Cinder,” Ruby whined, hand still pumping in and out of herself, “Pl-Please, tell me I’m good… please.”

“You’re… you’re such a good girl,” Cinder’s voice was soft and strained, forcing herself to get the words she knew Ruby wanted to hear out even as her chest heaved with frantic breaths. “You did so well. Cum for me, I know you want it.”

That was enough to push Ruby over the edge, cumming all over her own hand. She buried her face in Cinder’s chest, reveling in the softness even as her body shuddered harshly. Cinder’s hand was a constant presence on the back of her head, gently stroking through her hair while she came, the soft affection forming a counterbalance to the rough pleasure she was experiencing.

“Good girl, good girl,” Cinder repeated over and over, petting Ruby as her body gradually ceased shaking. They took a short while to recover, staying pressed tightly together, Ruby’s every breath tickling slightly against Cinder’s chest. Eventually though, Ruby rolled back a short distance, looking up into Cinder’s eye.

“That was really good,” she said simply.

“It was. Definitely counts as a workout though, I really don’t wanna get up.” Nonetheless, after a few more seconds she pushed herself up into a sitting position. “But, we should probably get cleaned up and then figure out what we’re doing for dinner.”

“Hmmm,” Ruby mused, slowly stretching out her arms as she continued to lay down, “Still don’t wanna get up. Can you try motivating me a little more?”

“Oh?” Cinder raised her eyebrow, looking down at Ruby with an amused smirk. “Is the fact that if you don’t get up now you won’t be able to have another shower with me not motivating enough?”

Ruby sat up immediately. “You make a compelling argument, let’s go.”

Cinder laughed, slid out of bed, and then turned to offer a hand to Ruby. “Let’s.”


	10. A Perfect Pet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinder chats with Penny and Neo, has her reading time interrupted, and then gets herself a puppy.

“This has been a really great weekend, Cinder. Thanks a lot for spending it with me.” Ruby’s smile shone brightly as she stood in the doorway of Cinder’s apartment, giving the older woman one last hug before she left.

“It’s no problem. I… I enjoyed myself too, y’know?”

Now the smile turned soft, her eyes meeting Cinder’s fondly. She pulled out of the hug, but left her hands lingering on Cinder’s hips. For a few moments Cinder wondered if they were about to kiss again, but instead Ruby just giggled. “I probably shouldn’t keep Weiss waiting any longer.”

“Alright,” Cinder ruffled Ruby’s hair as the younger girl let her hands fall away, “Tell her thanks again for that lift the other night.”

“Will do!” Ruby stepped out the door, only to look back almost immediately. “I’ll see you again soon?”

“Of course.”

She flashed one last smile at Cinder, then bounced away happily down the hall. Cinder stood in the doorway and watched her fondly, until she disappeared from sight, and then let the door shut with a click.

When she turned back into the apartment’s living room, she found Penny and Neo watching from the couch, Penny with a joyful grin and Neo with a sly smirk. Her smile was quickly replaced with something between a scowl and a pout as she crossed the room to drop into her favourite armchair, eyeing the two of them suspiciously. “What are you two looking at?”

“Oh, we had just been discussing how sweet the two of you seem together,” Penny responded brightly. “I assume Ruby informed you of our prior relationship? As much as this was a surprise, I am truly delighted that she has found happiness with you! As girlfriends!”

“Ah, well,” Cinder replied a tad sheepishly, “We’re not exactly… girlfriends. Just friends.”

Penny tilted her head. “That’s quite surprising! All of your behaviour led me to believe otherwise. Do you usually kiss, take showers, and have sex with your friends?” She looked down to Neo with that last line, her expression adorably quizzical.

Neo gave Penny a quick peck on the cheek. “No, don’t worry. Cinder and Ruby are just in a weird relationship where they’re fucking and stuff, but neither of them wants to ask the other out even though they’re really obviously into one another.”

“Oh? That is quite strange! Why don’t they?”

“I dunno, guess they’re just dumb.”

“Hey!” Cinder interrupted. “I’m right here.”

“So?” Neo signed back lazily. “Am I wrong?”

“Yes! You know why I’m hesitating.”

Neo shrugged, then turned back to Penny. “Cinder’s just a little afraid that Ruby might say no, despite all the evidence to the contrary.”

“Hmm,” Penny hummed in consideration, then shone another cheerful smile at Cinder, “I believe I can understand that! Before I asked Neo out I was quite nervous about the possibility of her refusing, despite her repeatedly expressing her desire to suck-”

Cinder held a hand up. “I don’t need to know all the details. But yes, that’s more or less the situation.” She sighed a little, her hand falling back down and beginning to drum idly against the armrest of the chair. “I guess… I just find it hard to believe someone like her would ever actually have an interest in… well, in someone like me.”

“If it makes you feel any better, as someone who has previously experienced being in a relationship with Ruby, I believe that she seemed to be quite taken with you! I would not at all be surprised if she accepts when you ask her out.”

“Thanks, that um… that actually does help. Thanks. And to be fair, I haven’t just been doing nothing, I managed to make some progress with her last night.”

“Oh?” Neo leaned in a touch, her excitement visible. “Tell me more.”

“Well, it’s not the biggest deal, but we did agree to become exclusive. So, that’s something. It’s more than just casual sex now, at least.”

“Aww, congrats babe.” Neo paused signing to give a small clap, which Penny earnestly joined in with. “You’re growing up so fast, one day you’ll be cool enough to have a real girlfriend, just like me.” She turned and gave Penny another small kiss, while the girl giggled happily.

Cinder rolled her eye. “I’ve had girlfriends before, Neo.”

“Barely. Anyway, insults aside, that’s good to hear. I seriously thought you’d just keep twiddling your thumbs forever, even after that fantastic pep talk I gave you.”

“Yeah, well. Fuck you. And thanks.” Cinder awkwardly scratched at the back of her neck. “It honestly did help me, a lot.”

“Well duh, I’m like the pep talk queen.”

“She is!” Penny chimed in. “Neo was able to give me some excellent encouragement when I was preparing for my last job interview.”

Cinder was torn between her intense need to snark at Neo and her desire to not be cruel in the face of Penny’s sweet innocence. She did her best to land somewhere in between. “Well, I guess you aren’t terrible at it, sometimes. Anyway, Penny, are you going to be staying over for the day?”

Penny’s smile somehow became brighter. “Affirmative! Neo is going to give me some makeup lessons!”

“Alright, well I’ll probably just be in my room all day, so feel free to do whatever you want out here.” Cinder stood, and gave off an involuntary yawn. “Might have a little nap, didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“Hey, don’t need to tell us, we could hear exactly how much sleep you were getting.” Neo waggled her eyebrows at Cinder. “Have a good rest, babe.”

Ugh. She scowled at Neo, not exactly being able to refute her implication, and then stalked off. Maybe she should look into how much it could possibly cost to soundproof her room before she took that nap.

\---

A few days had passed by since then, and Cinder was spending a relaxing morning reading. She’d bought a new book recently that she’d been really looking forward to, and had just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to sit down with it. And finally here it was, she had no plans with Ruby, no other pressing obligations or work that needed to be completed, and Neo was going to be out with Penny till the afternoon. What she hadn’t anticipated was a sudden knock at the door announcing an uninvited guest.

Well that was typical. She sighed a little, waited for a few moments to see if whoever it was would just leave, and then stood up dejectedly when the visitor gave another sharp knock. When she cracked the door open, she was greeted by the sight of one Weiss Schnee. Very typical indeed.

“We don’t need whatever you’re selling.” She started to push the door shut.

“Wha- hey!” Weiss stuck her foot out, blocking the door before it could shut all the way, “I’m not trying to sell you anything, dolt. I need to talk with you about something.”

Well… she probably should’ve guessed that wouldn’t work. Maybe she could play dumb? “Do I know you?”

“Are… you can’t be serious. I’m Weiss Schnee. Ruby’s roommate. We’ve met. Lots of times.”

“Aren’t you the one that doesn’t like me? Can’t we just keep avoiding each other?”

“I- well… I mean, yes I am, but… look, can you just open the stupid door?” Weiss snapped back at her.

Cinder sighed and pulled the door back open. So much for her relaxing morning alone. Still, maybe this wouldn’t take too long. “Do you want to come in, or can we just do this here?”

“Inside would be preferable.”

“Yeah, that figures.” She turned and walked back to her armchair, not bothering to check if Weiss was following. She sat, and watched impatiently as Weiss caught up and took a seat of her own. “So. What’s up.”

“Right.” Weiss stared down at her lap for a few moments, only meeting Cinder’s eye when she was ready to speak. “I’d like to ask you to break up with Ruby.”

Silence reigned for a few seconds. “Okay. No. Was that everything?”

“I’m being serious here!”

Cinder just shrugged. “So am I. I guess you get points for just asking me straight up, but why would I ever do that?”

“I…” Weiss looked back down at her lap, her hands clenching tightly in the fabric of her skirt. “We… we were all fine. Our group. We were all fine, and happy, and everything was right. But then… then you came along and now it’s all wrong, Ruby’s acting differently, like she doesn’t care about us anymore, and… and it’s not fair.”

“I still don’t really see why this should be my problem. Why don’t you just ask her about it?”

“I’ve tried but… but like I’ve said, she’s acting like she doesn’t care. You’re being a bad influence on her, and you need to stop.”

Impressively, Cinder resisted her initial urge to snark back. Clearly Weiss had missed the memo, Ruby was the one being a good influence on her. “Look, I get that Ruby and I have been spending plenty of time together recently, but it’s not like she doesn’t care about you guys. You should see how she goes on about some of you idiots. It’s honestly pretty annoying. And anyway, everyone else seems to be fine with what we’re doing. Seems like this is more of a you problem. I get that I’m really incredible, but maybe you’d feel better if you just tried to stop being jealous of me.”

Weiss seemed to shrink as Cinder spoke, still staring intently downward. Honestly she stayed silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, to the point where Cinder was right on the verge of asking her to leave already if she’s just gonna sit there, until all of a sudden she looked back up. “Fine. It’s… it’s…” she paused to swallow down a lump in her throat, “I guess I am jealous. Ren’s always had Nora. Jaune has Pyrrha, Yang has Blake, and I… I had Ruby. We had each other. But now you’re here and I don’t have anyone anymore. You took her. It’s not fair, and I just want her back, so please…” This time it was Cinder who looked away, not wanting to focus on the tears visibly forming in the corners of Weiss’s eyes. She’d really hit the nail on the head there, without even meaning to.

“Wait here for a sec.” Cinder stood, and made her way to the kitchen while Weiss looked at her quizzically. When she returned, she was carrying a tissue box, which she held out to the younger woman. Weiss hesitated for a moment, until Cinder snapped at her, “Just take it. I don’t want you crying all over my couch.” With that, Weiss took the box out of her hand and Cinder returned to her seat. She waited as patiently as she could manage while Weiss pulled out a tissue and began to gently dab at her tears with it, only speaking once she was done. “I don’t really appreciate you saying that I ‘took’ Ruby. I didn’t take her because she was never actually yours. She’s the one choosing to spend time with me, if she was actually yours she wouldn’t have done that in the first place.”

“But… I’ve loved her for years! Then you just come along out of nowhere and suddenly that doesn’t matter?”

“You loved her, but you never actually did anything about it, did you?” Cinder watched as Weiss’s shoulders slumped noticeably. Damn it, why did she have to be so sad, she was making Cinder feel like an asshole. Well, more of an asshole than usual. “Look, Weiss, for what it’s worth I’m sorry. It’s not like I was walking into this hoping that you’d get hurt, it’s just… an unfortunate side effect. But I’m not going to just give Ruby up because of that.”

Weiss sat there quietly, then grabbed another tissue and rubbed frustratedly at her eyes. When she spoke, she was much quieter, “I guess I just always thought I’d have the opportunity later. And… and I was too scared that I’d ruin what we already had if I asked. And now it’s too late.”

A twinge of sympathy ran through Cinder. That wasn’t too dissimilar to the situation she was in right now. Putting off actually asking Ruby out, fearing what her refusal would mean. She found herself drumming on her chair’s armrest, trying to order her thoughts. “You know, it might not actually be too late.”

Weiss sniffled. “I’m not going to confess to her when she’s already going out with you. Believe it or not, I do have standards.”

“Well… we’re not actually going out.”

“You… what? Yes you are.”

“No, we’re not. I know everyone’s kinda been assuming that, but we’re not. We’ve just been having casual sex this whole time. Well, the other night we did make an agreement to be exclusive for the time being, but we’re not in any kind of romantic relationship.”

Weiss’s confused expression looked almost comical when mixed with her eyes, still red and puffy from the tears. “So…”

“So make of that what you will. If you tell her, I have no idea what she’ll say. But whatever it is, it’ll probably be better for you than sitting around feeling sorry for yourself and getting pissed at me.”

“And… if she did say yes, and broke things off with you, you’d be okay with that?”

Cinder paused, swallowed down her feelings, then forced a shrug. “It is what it is. Like I said, there’s nothing romantic between us, she can do what she wants.”

\---

Another few days went by, with Cinder spending the whole time not exactly feeling great. Ever since she’d managed to shoo the Schnee girl out of her apartment, her thoughts had been consumed with what the potential fallout of that conversation was going to be. If… when Weiss asks Ruby, what would Ruby say? Had Cinder just ended her relationship with the girl before it’d even started? They had made that agreement to go exclusive, that had to count for something right? But Ruby and Weiss had been friends for… well Cinder didn’t exactly know that, but it seemed like it was probably a while. Would Ruby really be able to say no to that?

On this particular day, at least, she had something slightly different to worry about. It was a nice change of pace if nothing else. Namely, it was Neo trying to get her to do something she really didn’t want to.

“You’re getting something for her. That’s final.”

“I’ve already told you that I’m not.” Cinder punctuated the statement by taking a bite out of the single piece of toast that made up her breakfast.

Neo harrumphed, “and I’ve already told you that you are, dumbass.”

“Why do I need to get her something? She’s probably not even expecting it.”

“I don’t care if she’s expecting it or not, it’s Valentine's day and you’re trying to get her to fall in love with you. If you don’t use this opportunity you’re gonna regret it, and I’m sick of seeing you mope around lately. It keeps pissing me off watching you stare forlornly out the window when I’m trying to make out with Penny. Plus, this is a good chance to see her again, you had that great day together like, a week ago, and all you’ve done since is text her. Go get her some chocolates or flowers or something, spend some time together, have a bit of sex. It’ll be fun.”

Cinder sighed in defeat. “Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine, I’ll get her some stupid flowers. Just let me eat my breakfast in peace.”

Satisfied, Neo pranced away, leaving Cinder to munch at her toast and contemplate a very important question. Where would she even buy flowers?

\---

With a small bouquet of lilies clutched tightly in her hand, Cinder stood nervously outside the door to Ruby’s apartment. Maybe this was a bad idea. Would giving her these just be weird given their current relationship status? It probably would. She should probably just throw them out. There was a bin on the way into the apartment complex she could quickly run back to- oh, and the door’s opening. Crap, she probably shouldn’t have knocked before she finished overthinking things.

“Hey Cinder!” Ruby shone as brightly as ever. “Really glad you could come over today, I’ve- oooh are those flowers?”

“Uh. Yeah.” Cinder awkwardly held the bouquet out. “It’s Valentine’s, and I mean, I know we don’t have that kind of thing going on, but I was walking past a flower stall on the way here… total coincidence, but I guess I thought you might like them? If that’s okay?”

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you!” Ruby took the bouquet off Cinder, then stepped in close to press a small kiss against her cheek. “Thanks a lot, I mean it. Come on in, I’ll find something to put them in.”

Cinder followed Ruby into the apartment, then watched with a small smile as she flitted about the kitchen, eventually locating a small glass jug that the flowers would fit inside. Ruby was cute, Cinder mused. Obviously, this was something that she’d long since come to terms with, but it was as true now as ever. There was just something about the way she moved, her energy, the way she bounced about, that never failed to make Cinder feel happy.

“Are these… lilies?” Ruby asked, looking back toward Cinder and receiving a nod as confirmation, “Oh, cool! I don’t know much about flowers, sorry, but they’re really pretty!”

“Yeah, I was gonna get roses since… well, that’s the normal thing on Valentine’s I guess. But then I thought that might be a bit on the nose with the whole last name thing? So I thought I’d get something else. And apparently these have something to do with being a lesbian, so like… good fit I guess?”

Ruby snorted a little. “For the record, roses would’ve been fine, not weird at all. These are nice too though.” She finished placing the flowers inside the jug, then left them behind on the kitchen bench and made her way back to Cinder’s side. As soon as she was close enough, she wrapped the older woman up in a tight hug and whispered softly to her, “Thanks so much Cinder, I love them.”

Cinder returned the hug immediately, nuzzling into the top of Ruby’s head and breathing in her scent. “I’m glad. I always really like getting to make you happy.”

They each pulled back a touch, smiling warmly, and then Cinder felt Ruby’s hands trail up her back, one slipping round her arm to settle behind her head and pull her down into a soft kiss. Groans and muffled moans filled the room around them, and Cinder realised, much to her dismay, that she was probably going to have to thank Neo for making her get those dumb flowers.

Ruby grinned at her when they parted. “Do you wanna go cuddle on the couch while we figure out what to do all afternoon?”

\---

As always when the pair was together, time flew by. They cuddled, made out for a time, and eventually decided to put a movie on, which they both pretended to watch while being much more interested in sneaking as much kissing and touching into the experience as possible. Afternoon soon turned to night, and dinner was ordered from that nearby Thai place that had quickly become a favourite choice whenever they felt like getting delivery. And then, once they finished eating, they found their way into Ruby’s bed, as these things usually went.

“Oh, that reminds me, I had something I wanted to try out!”

Cinder watched from the bed with a subtle smile as Ruby stumbled around the room, her voice muffled by the shirt she’d managed to get stuck on her head as she rushed to undress. “What would that be? Oh, and by the way, do you need any help with that?”

“No, I’m- Wait, maybe yes. Wait, no, I got it, I got it- Ah, phew,” Ruby finally managed to wrench the shirt off of her head and proceeded to deposit it unceremoniously on the ground. Now free of her clothy prison, she made her way over to her desk and retrieved a small, black, plastic bag that reminded Cinder more than a little of the one she’d kept her handcuffs in before they started using them. “I guess you could think of this as my Valentine’s gift to you, if you want. Although, maybe that’s not fair, it’s really for both of us,” Ruby spoke with barely contained excitement as she took a seat next to Cinder on the bed.

Cinder pressed herself up against Ruby’s back, wrapping her arm around the girl and watching with rapt interest as, slowly but surely, Ruby reached into the bag and produced a collar. The item was relatively plain, made of black leather with a simple buckle at the back and a single metal loop to which a leash could be attached. Nonetheless, it took Cinder’s breath away, and she could feel the way Ruby trembled slightly as she held it in her hands.

“W-Well, there it is. And we only need to use it if you’re interested, I mean I know I am, and I think you would be? But if you’re not that’s fine.”

“Oh, Ruby,” she murmured, her arm wrapping tighter around the girl’s waist as she slipped into her domme persona, “You’re so cute.” A pathetic whimper spilled out of Ruby as Cinder began to nip at the soft flesh on the back of her neck. “Such a perfect pet. How could I not want to collar you?”

Ruby leaned back into Cinder, continuing to whimper softly. Her eyes drifted shut as she lost herself in the sensation of teeth, tongue, and lips marking her neck. All the while, clutching that beautiful circle of leather between her hands, anticipation growing by the second.

“Would you like me to put that on for you, my pretty little rose?”

“Yes,” Ruby choked out. “Please, Cinder, ma’am, please…”

“Anything for you.” Cinder relieved Ruby of her burden, taking the collar out of her hands and beginning to unfasten the buckle. “Take your underwear off, Ruby. You won’t need it.”

“Oh! Yes ma’am.” Ruby moved like lightning, standing up and tossing her bra and panties off, each ending up in completely different parts of the room. Her excitement was palpable as she turned back to face Cinder, shifting her weight from one foot to the other constantly.

The collar’s buckle came undone in Cinder’s hand. She took a moment to admire the object, plain but sturdy and well made, then turned her gaze up toward Ruby, singular eye running hungrily over the girl’s body. “Kneel for me.”

Ruby didn’t need to be told twice, dropping down onto her knees and then staring reverently at Cinder. A smile crossed the older woman’s face as she met Ruby’s eyes, then rose from the bed and took a single slow step to stand directly in front of her.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And you remember what to say if you want to stop, for whatever reason?”

“Silver.”

“Good girl,” Cinder murmured breathily, eye ever fixed on the girl in front of her. In a smooth motion she leant down, looped the black leather around Ruby’s neck, and then paused. “So, not to ruin the mood or anything, but I might actually need your help to fasten this. ‘Cause you know, one hand and all that. Just hold it in place for me and I can do the rest”

“Oh, right,” Ruby laughed, smiling warmly at Cinder as she brought her hands up to the collar, holding it in place while Cinder reached round behind her neck. After a couple of seconds of fiddling, she felt the material tighten around her neck and hummed happily as Cinder pulled back to admire the sight.

“Is that okay? Not too tight?”

“It’s perfect”

“Hmm,” Cinder hummed noncommittally. She reached out and trailed along the edge of the leather, then slipped two of her fingers under it, testing how much breathing room Ruby had. Satisfied, she stood back up, looking down at the blushing, collared girl gazing needily up at her. “Well then, my cute pet, I think it’s time to give you a reward for being so good for me. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes ma’am! I’ve been really good.” Ruby replied eagerly.

“Then get onto the bed for me, let me take good care of you.”

Ruby stretched out her arms, then stood and moved over to lay on the bed. “Oh,” she gestured to the plastic bag, “There’s also a leash in there if you want to use it, by the way.”

“I think that I do. Sit on the edge for me.” While Ruby sprang into the ordered position, Cinder retrieved the leash. It was simple, made from nylon webbing and coloured black, presumably to match the collar. And yet, just holding it made warm fluttery feelings explode all throughout her body. They were about to do something she’d been imagining for weeks now, as much as she attempted to maintain her cool disaffected persona she couldn’t help feeling more than a little excited at the prospect.

Ruby waited patiently while Cinder clicked the leash on, doing her best to prevent herself from trembling with all the anticipation coursing through her body. She bit down hard on her lower lip, just waiting to find out what would come first. A command? A harsh tug on her new leash? Something completely unexpected? She was giving herself over so completely to Cinder, putting so much faith in the older woman, trusting her to look after her. And yet, she knew that Cinder was worthy of that trust, that she wouldn’t misuse it, that she would do everything she could to make Ruby feel incredible. Because Ruby was Cinder’s. The thought sent a trill of joy through her mind. Their relationship may not be exactly where she truly wanted it, but even so the idea that Cinder wanted her like that, wanted her more than anyone else, it just made her so undeniably happy.

“You’re so incredibly beautiful Ruby,” Cinder’s breathy whisper startled Ruby a touch, and only an instant later she started to feel a tugging around her neck as Cinder began to pull her closer. “Come, sit on my lap.” Cinder had taken a seat next to Ruby while she was still lost in thought, and now Ruby found herself straddling one of the older woman’s thighs, their faces only centimetres apart.

Cinder kept her grip on the leash firm, making sure to keep it taut at all times. It only took a slight movement closer and her mouth met Ruby’s, tongue immediately forcing its way past those pretty little lips and meeting hungrily with Ruby’s own. Ruby moaned desperately into her, hips rolling forward in an attempt to hump Cinder’s thigh. That earned a growl from the older woman, and a harsh tug on the leash that pulled them apart, ending the kiss prematurely.

“Stay still. You’ll get relief when I decide it’s time.”

Ruby whined, “But Cin- ah! Plea- gah!” She looked confusedly at Cinder, who cut off her every attempt at speech with a sudden yank on the leash.

“Hmm, that’s strange,” Cinder mused, meeting Ruby’s eyes with a faux confused look of her own. “I didn’t think pets could talk, did you?”

Silver eyes blinked slowly, then widened in realisation. A few seconds ticked by, Ruby’s cheeks turning darker and darker shades of red as she worked up the courage to do what she knew Cinder wanted. Then, finally, “Arf! Ruff!”

“Ohh, you’re so, so good.” Cinder’s eye drifted shut as she listened to the sound of Ruby barking for her. Demeaning herself for her. It was positively musical. “My cute puppy. My perfect, slutty pet.” She leaned back in, this time planting sloppy kisses along Ruby’s jawline, then down her neck, passing over the collar as her pet’s barks turned to happy whines and whimpers. “Maybe you have earned a treat… what do you think?”

“R-Ruff!”

Cinder hummed happily, pressing one last kiss at the base of her pet’s throat before pulling back. “Alright, my pretty puppy. I’ll let you grind against me. Does that sound good?”

Ruby needed no further encouragement, barking happily as her hips began to stutter forward, seeking whatever friction she could find. She leaned against Cinder, letting her owner support more and more of her weight as she clumsily humped her, her arousal leaking out of her incessantly.

“Such a desperate puppy, aren’t you?” Cinder laughed, releasing the leash and instead wrapping her arm around Ruby to help keep her steady. “I haven’t even been inside you yet, and you’re this wet.”

The puppy let out something between a moan and a strained bark.

“You just need me so bad, don’t you? I’m the one who can remind you of your place, of how pathetic you really are, of what a dumb slut you are deep down. The one who can make you feel incredible.”

She gave up on barking amidst all the moans that were spilling out of her, and instead nodded frantically before burying her face into her owner’s neck. Her hips, meanwhile, continued to grind as hard as they could. It felt so, so good, and yet it just wasn’t enough. Moans changed to whines as she chased after a release that stayed just barely out of reach.

“What’s wrong puppy? Do you want something?” Cinder’s whisper was low, husky, and made a shudder race through Ruby’s body. “You can use your words this time.”

“I-I,” Ruby stammered, struggling with words as she continued to grind down onto Cinder, “Can you… I-I want you inside me! Please, please.”

“Aww, Good girl, so obedient. Hop off. And back to barking, it suits you better.”

The whine Ruby let out as she forced herself to stop sounded positively painful. Nonetheless, she managed to dismount from Cinder, following her owner’s directions to lay back on the bed; although clamping her legs together and rubbing them together in search of whatever friction she could find the whole while.

Cinder wasted no time, laying beside Ruby, pressing up against her body, and then letting her hand find its way to the pet’s entrance. Three fingers slipped inside easily, diving straight into the depths of Ruby’s cunt. Ruby jolted at the sudden intrusion, a loud “Ruff!” filling the room, soon joined by many more as she struggled to express the pleasure that Cinder was rewarding her with.

“Oh, good girl! Good girl,” Cinder paused a moment to laugh. “You’re drooling, puppy.”

Ruby didn’t seem to mind much, letting out another happy bark as her body rocked into Cinder’s touch. Her mind felt like it was melting away, deforming like putty as all her thoughts were replaced by sheer need. Need to be a good girl, need to be Cinder’s perfect pet, and need for that release that seemed to edge closer by the second. A particularly hard thrust, combined with some curling fingers, made her cry out as little pinpricks of light began to invade her vision.

“God Ruby, you feel so fucking good,” Cinder’s voice remained steady as ever even while Ruby unspooled before her. She drank in every detail of Ruby that she could, every little change in her voice, the way her chest heaved with more and more intensity, how the pupils in those beautiful silver eyes dilated wildly with hunger. “Don’t finish just yet, puppy. I want to enjoy you a little more.”

Ruby whined painfully, but bit down on her lip and made her best attempt at following the instruction. There was just so much sensation, so much pleasure, it was so hard to do as she was told. But she knew she had to. She had to be a good girl for Cinder. The idea of disappointing her was too terrible to even consider.

Cinder certainly didn’t make it easy for her, continuing to thrust with abandon, occasionally curling her fingers a little to brush up against Ruby’s most sensitive areas. It was a little cruel, admittedly, but there was something just so delightful about the way the girl reacted, the muffled cries she gave out as she tried so, so hard not to give in. “You don’t know just how beautiful you are,” Cinder breathed out. “I adore you, Ruby. Part of me just wants to keep you like this, even though I know that it’d be cruel. If this could last forever…” she trailed off, a slight frown appearing on her face, only to be dispelled by a slight shake of the head, “Cum for me puppy. You’ve been such a good girl, just cum for me.”

No further instruction was necessary, as Ruby threw her head back and let herself go as soon as the words left Cinder’s mouth. The orgasm was intense, and accompanied by a mix of loud moaning and the occasional strained bark. Her body rocked and shuddered over and over, while Cinder did everything in her power to intensify and prolong the experience. Amber starbursts consumed her vision as the fingers inside her pressed down hard on her g-spot, and her body was overtaken by one final, explosive jolt before finally falling still. For a few moments the only sound in the room was that of Ruby sucking breaths of air, until Cinder brought her soiled fingers up to Ruby’s mouth for cleaning, and then that sound too faded away and was replaced by the soft noises of sucking.

“Cinder…” Ruby panted as soon as the fingers were withdrawn. “Wow.”

“You did so, so good.” Cinder beamed down at Ruby, caressing the girl’s cheek with her now saliva covered fingers. “Such a good job.”

A lazy smile overtook Ruby’s features, matching Cinder’s own as their faces gradually grew closer together, eventually meeting in a soft kiss. When they parted, their smiles were still there, and for a few moments they stayed staring at each other, Cinder’s hand gradually finding its way to Ruby’s hair and giving it a few gentle pets.

Regretfully, Cinder did eventually push herself up and away from Ruby’s warm embrace, trying to ignore the girl’s cute whining and puppy dog eyes. “Ruby,” she admonished when Ruby clung onto her hand in a last ditch effort to stop her getting up, “I need to grab some things to take care of you. If you stop me, you’re the one that’s going to regret it.” She pouted, but let go, allowing Cinder to stand. “Good girl. Is there anything special you want me to get for you?”

“If you’re going to get me a drink, could you grab some ice out of the fridge? I’d really like something to cool down a bit.”

“Of course.” She reached down, giving Ruby’s hair one last gentle pat before turning for the door.

“Oh! And… if we’re going to cuddle afterward…” Ruby’s cheeks, only just returned to their normal pale colour, lit up with yet another soft blush, “Could I maybe keep the collar on? I kinda… think I’d like it.”

“Oh, Ruby,” Cinder looked back, smiling softly, “how did you get to be so perfect? Of course.” With that, she left the room, humming softly as she contemplated the wonderful night ahead. On nights like these, when the two of them were together, everything just seemed so bright.


End file.
